Jailbirds
by MagicMemories
Summary: This is the story of Alison's time in prison. She is transferred to a new cell and meets Brittany. Like Alison, Brittany doesn't seem to belong in jail and the two form an unlikely friendship and find comfort in one another as they attempt to survive in West Chester Women's Correctional. Eventual Emison and will feature Emily in later chapters.
1. Sadness in the Slammer

**This is the story of Alison's time in prison. She is transferred to a new cell and meets Brittany. Like Alison, Brittany doesn't seem to belong in jail and the two form an unlikely friendship and find comfort in one another as they attempt to survive in West Chester Women's Correctional. **

-x-

The sound of her cell opening woke Alison from her restless sleep. She's only been in this hellhole for two weeks and she can already feel it's atmosphere sucking the life out of her. She hears footsteps enter the confined space and she sits up slowly with her back against the wall. She looks down from her bunk to see the warden, a middle aged man with a stern expression, and two prison guards standing behind him. One of them was holding a set of shackles; looking closer at them, Alison could see that they were the ones that went on your ankles as well.

"Come on DiLaurentis," The warden said firmly, Alison had already been here long enough to know he was not a man to be crossed. "New cell," he added after a moment.

Alison couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief, her current cellmate had taken a particular interest to her in a way that gave Alison goose bumps whenever the woman came within 5 feet of her. Though the prison guards would stop a fight from going to far between inmates, they didn't care if the inmates harassed each other sexually. Alison hopped down from her bunk slowly, carefully eyeing the guards standing behind the warden. She didn't trust them.

"Which box is yours?" the warden questioned, motioning towards the two cardboard boxes on the table in the corner with his head. Alison pointed to the one on the left and the guard who wasn't carrying the shackles picked it up and walked out of the cell and down the hallway.

The warden took the shackles out of the remaining guard's hands and turned to Alison. "Hands out," he commanded sternly. Alison put both her hands out and balled her fists together as the warden secured the handcuffs to her wrists. "Too tight?" he asked, Alison shook her head. Though the warden had obviously no love for criminals, he respected their rights and treated them as human beings and Alison respected him for that, seeing as many of the guards did not seem to share his beliefs.

He locked the handcuffs with a key before securing them to a chain around the blonde's waist, restricting Alison's movement significantly. He then bent down and clasped the second set around her ankles, again asking if they were too tight, to which Alison shook her head again. He locked them in and secured them to the waist chain also.

"This isn't necessary you know," Alison spoke for the first time since she had woken up, "I'm not going to cause any trouble," and she meant it. Being locked in a cage for most of the day was bad enough, but from what she'd heard from other inmates during meal times and in the showers, solitary was a whole new level of hell.

"I believe you DiLaurentis, I really do," the warden answered honestly, "but it's procedure, we're moving you to a new block, meaning we'll be walking right past the facility's entrance. So we have no choice but to restrain you,"

Alison nodded, she was grateful to the warden for not treating her like an animal like many of the guards did, and she knew he had his orders.

"You haven't caused any trouble since you got here, which is rare," the warden commented, "so this is kind of a reward for your good behaviour. Your new cellmate is harmless, she's 17, 18 in 2 weeks I believe"

Alison raised her eyebrows at that, this was an adult facility, she was one of the youngest here being only 18. What was a child doing here? "Why is she here then?, shouldn't she be in a juvenile centre?" she asked curiously, she couldn't help but feel pity for this child.

The warden looked up from his paperwork to glance at Alison with interest, he had never seen an inmate show concern for another before. "Normally, yes. This kid, like you, is charged with murder. However the DA insisted that she be tried as an adult and the judge had no choice but to agree, she wasn't given bail and was on remand in here" he said. Alison wondered why she could see sympathy in the warden's eyes.

"That's not all but," The warden continued, "The victim was her step-father, evidence showed that she witnessed him trying to force himself on her mother, she tried to stop it but then her step-father turned on her and attacked her. A knife was nearby and she managed to get it and stabbed him repeatedly in the jugular. When she stood before the court, she said that she had indeed killed him to protect her mother. She pleaded guilty and would have gotten ten years but given that it was in self defence, and she was attacked first, the judge was lenient and gave her two,"

Alison's jaw hit the floor once he had finished. "But it was in self defence, she had to do it, why did she get any time at all?" she asked, shocked at the treatment this girl had received.

The warden shrugged, "I'm not supposed to be telling you any of this, but I'm telling you because the kid's been in here for 7 months already and the other inmates have done nothing but torture her non-stop, her last cellmate beat her senseless every night after lights out, but she refused to come forward so there was nothing we could do" he paused, his face scrunching for a moment before continuing. "And she's here because the DA was an asshole and claimed that the kid was mentally unstable before the incident. But if you ask me, it's bullshit. It's being in here that's made the kid unstable" He finished before motioning to the cell door "C'mon, let's get moving,"

Alison gave him a tiny smile. It was rare for anybody in this building to show her even the slightest bit of compassion but here was the warden, talking her as if she wasn't a convicted murderer. Or maybe he didn't care if she was, or maybe, just maybe, he believed she was innocent. She shuffled forward, only being able to take small steps due to the ankle restraints, and followed him out of the cell.

-x-

As Alison and the warden entered the hallway after a long walk, a guard comes around the corner and shakes the warden's hand. "What's this then?" he asked the warden, smiling as he chewed his gum with his mouth open. Alison felt a little disgusted.

"DiLaurentis moving to cell 185," the warden responded

"Lawson? Don't you think she's better off alone sir?" Alison noticed that this guard seemed to feel pity for this kid too.

"DiLaurentis is being moved for good behaviour, I don't think she will cause any trouble Dean" the warden answered with confidence. Alison's respect for him increased a touch.

"Alright, I'll be seeing you tonight then for the dinner sir?"

"Indeed, better return to your station Dean," the warden answered in his nicest tone, but Alison could tell that he was politely telling him to sod off; she smirked a little.

The guard hurried off without another word and Alison and the warden set off again until they stopped in front of a cell similar to the previous one Alison had stayed in, but it seemed slightly larger and the bunks seemed slightly more comfortable. On the table there was two books as well as a sketchpad and some pencils, Alison noticed they were perfectly aligned with the edge of the table. It seemed her new cell mate was a bit of a neat freak.

The warden unlocked the cell and ushered Alison inside, turning her to face him so that he could unlock her shackles. Once they were off, he placed them on the table before turning to the bunks, Alison followed suit. Only then did she notice a young girl sitting on the top bunk in the corner of the room, curled up in a ball. She was watching them with wide eyes peeking out from above arms with complete fear, looking closer, Alison could see drops of sweat on her forehead. This girl was petrified.

"Brittany," the warden said quietly, the girl squealed slightly and tightened her hold on herself and put her head back on top on her legs, looking down. Alison could see she was shaking slightly now. "Brittany, this is your new cellmate. Her name is Alison DiLaurentis. Alison, this is Brittany Lawson" the warden introduced them before turning and walking out of the cell, closing and locking it behind him before walking away; leaving Alison and Brittany alone.

-x-

After watching the warden leave, Alison turned to face her cellmate again. Brittany was looking at her similarly to how she was before, peeping out from behind her arms.

"H-Hello" Alison said quietly, Brittany's eyes widened before hiding her face again; Alison could now hear soft sobbing coming from the tiny girl. She stepped forward ever so slightly and Brittany jumped so high into the air it's a wonder she didn't hit her head on the concrete ceiling of their cell.

"Don't hurt me please!" she yelled as she curled into her ball again and cried even harder, watching Alison with a look of pure horror.

Alison felt her heart ache for the child in front of her. She fought to hide back tears of her own, how could someone be so cruel as to keep a child like Brittany in this awful place when she truly didn't deserve it.

"It's okay, it's okay" Alison whispered softly as she put her hands out in front of her so that Brittany could see them, trying to show the girl that she meant her no harm. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise," She swallowed thickly, Brittany raised her head slightly to look at Alison fully. It was only then that Alison could see the terrified girl's face fully, she instantly felt sick.

Brittany's face was a pale white colour, she had turquoise coloured eyes and dark brown hair with a golden tinge to it that was tied back in a high ponytail, exposing her long neck. She had perfect bone structure and a small nose as well as small heart-shaped lips. Her figure was tiny and rather underweight, her collar bones were sticking out from her orange jumpsuit which looked at lease 3 sizes too big for her.

But that wasn't what made Alison want to feel sick, she actually the thought the girl was rather pretty. What made Alison sick was the condition of the girl's face and body. Her right eye had a large purple bruise just above it that looked less than a week old, there was a large gash on her left cheek with stitches holding it together as well as a deep cut on her bottom lip. Her neck was littered with bruises and scratches as well as a white bandage that stuck to the right side of her neck. Looking closer, Alison could now see scars, cuts, burns and bruises lining the girls arms. She looked like she'd been in a horrendous motor accident.

Alison looked Brittany in the eyes and stepped closer, the girl squeaked slightly but didn't move.

"I'm not like them," she promised.

She could see Brittany relax ever so slightly but continue to watch her every move. She turned to the table and looked at the sketchpad that lay on it. The drawing on it was one of a woman holding a baby. Alison was captivated by the detail in the drawing. You could see reflections in the woman's eyes and the crooked edges of her fingertips. Each eyelash could be distinguished and the freckles on her skin were as clear as day. If the drawing hadn't of been in black and white, Alison would have sworn it was a photograph. She pointed to it and turned to Brittany.

"Did you do this?" she asked the still trembling girl, Brittany looked at her for a moment, studying her expression before nodding slowly. Alison have her a soft smile. "You're so talented," she commented sincerely, turning to look at the girl again. Brittany said nothing but allowed herself to uncurl from her ball to pick up her pillow and cuddle it like it was a stuffed animal.

Alison looked at her curiously, she could see why the warden and the guard felt sorry for this girl. "Who is the drawing of?" she asked gently, keeping her hands in Brittany's sight so the girl wouldn't panic.

Brittany buried her face in the pillow and looked at Alison, answering in a tiny voice that was muffled by the pillow "Mommy,"

Alison felt her eyes water again, she could see the pain in her cellmates eyes. "Does she ever visit you?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer. Brittany shook her head before speaking in a voice smaller than before. "Dead, killed herself,"

Alison ached for this poor girl, she could relate so much to Brittany. Being alone in jail when you didn't deserve to be, terrified of every sound you hear, wanting comfort but having nobody there to give you any, and losing your mother.

She sat on the table, careful not to sit on Brittany's sketchpad or books, before turning to look back at Brittany.

"My mother's dead too," she said cautiously, maybe if she shared something personal with Brittany, the girl would understand that she wasn't going to hurt her. "She was buried in my friend's backyard,"

She saw Brittany cock her head to one side ever so slightly, if she hadn't been looking at her she wouldn't have seen it. The girl nodded before shuffling on the bed, laying down and tugging the grey prison issued blanket over herself with her back to Alison, seeming to trust Alison enough to sleep now.

Alison smiled softly before standing up, she made a move towards her bunk but stopped herself at the thought of frightening her cellmate.

"Brittany?" she called out softly. Brittany didn't respond, but shuffled in her bed to show Alison that she was listening, "I'm going to get some sleep as well before dinner, is it okay if I get in my bunk. I won't hurt you I promise."

Brittany nodded with her back still to Alison. Alison walked over and climbed into her bunk, curling up under the blanket as well.

It was clear to Alison that her and Brittany were very much in the same situation. Neither of them had done anything to deserve being here, but both were here anyway because of heartless people. Though Alison may still be proven innocent, Brittany was serving a sentence. If Alison got out of here before the kid did, she swore she would find a way to get Brittany released. The way that she cared for the girl surprised even herself, but there was something about this girl that made her feel _almost obligated_ to protect her.

Maybe this is how she redeems herself, maybe if she helps Brittany she won't go to hell and maybe… just maybe, her friends would see that she wasn't the evil monster they thought she was.

As she drifted off to sleep, she wondered about her friends and how they were doing. She hoped she would get out of here in time to help them before -A got to them, she wouldn't throw them under the bus as part of a bargain. She would be found innocent eventually, and then maybe her and the girls, especially Emily, could work on being a team again and in Emily's case, maybe the true nature of their feelings could be addressed.

_-x-_

_**The first chapter of my new story. Emily will feature in later chapters as well as the other girls but for the moment it's focusing on Alison and Brittany. Thankyou everyone for your continued support of my work! Love you all xoxox **_


	2. Small World

**Alison tries to earn Brittany's trust by sharing stories of her life and run-in's with -A. Though Brittany at first is reluctant to open up, Alison is determined to break down her cellmate's walls. The pair find themselves at odds with some other inmates and Brittany reveals a dark secret. **

-x-

The guards came around a few hours later, opening up cells and announcing that it was dinner time. Alison sits up and steps towards the open cell door before noticing that she hadn't heard any movement from the top bunk. She turned around to see Brittany sitting cross-legged on her bunk holding the pillow like a stuffed toy again. Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared past Alison into the hallway where inmates were spilling from their cells and walking in the direction of the dining area.

"Um…Brittany?" Alison said cautiously, not wanting to startle her cellmate. Brittany's fearful gaze fell onto Alison and the blonde noticed a tear falling from her blue-green eyes.

"Brittany…are you going to come and get something to eat?" Alison asked hesitantly. She felt like if she said the wrong thing, Brittany would crack and crumble.

Her cellmate stared at her for several moments, eyes still wide with terror, before slowly shaking her head. Alison cocked her head slightly to one side, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"But aren't you hungry?" she asked thoughtfully, trying to make her voice as soft and non-threatening as she could.

Brittany seemed to ponder this for a minute, before shaking her head again. Though even as she did, Alison could hear the growling of her stomach. She took in the tiny girl's frame again, there was no doubt Brittany was underweight, and wondered if she had always been this way or if it had started when Brittany had been brought here.

Alison stepped forward with her hands out in front of her, she had realised that doing this whenever she approached Brittany seemed to keep the kid calm enough to listen to her without shrieking or crying or hiding. Brittany stayed perfectly still as Alison stepped closer to her, her wide eyes focused on the blonde's hands.

"You are hungry," Alison stated, it wasn't even a question. "But you won't come. Why?" she asked gently.

Brittany brought the pillow closer to her and tightened her hold on it as she answered in her tiny voice, "Not safe,"

Alison took a step closer to Brittany and her cellmate leaned backwards a bit and sank her face into the pillow again. Alison spoke in a whisper in an attempt to calm the girl enough to talk to her, "Why Brittany? Why isn't it safe?" she pushed as gently as she possibly could.

"Because the others beat her to a pulp before she even get's her food,"

Alison turned around to see a female prison guard walking towards them. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, she had short black hair and dark complexion with warm brown eyes. Alison was instantly reminded of Emily. She turned to look back at Brittany, who hadn't moved at all since they had been interrupted, and back to the guard.

"Why do they pick on her so much?" Alison asked the guard pointedly, she couldn't believe they let the other inmates get away with this.

The guard motioned to Alison's cellmate with her head, "Look at her. She's small, so she's easy to overpower. She's always scared, so she's easy to intimidate. She's easy to intimidate, so she never puts up much of a fight. She never puts up a fight, so she's just like their punching bag. She's young, so she's not very strong. She's not very strong, so they don't have to worry about getting hurt," she explained with a sliver of pity to her voice.

Alison's mouth fell open. She thought she had it rough in here, she couldn't imagine what is must have been like for Brittany. Being so small and helpless and unable to stand up to the people who attacked her. At least Alison could defend herself. The prison guard pulled Alison out of her thoughts when she spoke again.

"Used to be a lot worse though. She'd get back from being beaten in the dining area and her old cellmate would destroy her after lights out. The screams were blood curdling," she visibly flinched at the memory.

"So why didn't you do anything?!"

"She refused to admit she was being hurt. She would say the screaming was because of nightmares and that the bruises and gashes were from the fights in the dining area," the guard responded, not at all phased by Alison's angry tone.

"So what happened?"

"One night she went too far, busted Lawson's face wide open," the guard stroked her own cheek with a finger, indicating the spot where Brittany now had stitches and a large gash. "there was blood everywhere, she was unconscious and a guard on his round heard the commotion the other inmates were making and found them. Lawson was sent to the infirmary and her cellmate spent two weeks in solitary before being moved to another cell,"

Alison could feel the tears welling behind her eyes again. She was shocked by this revelation but more than that, she was angry. If the DA had not been such a prick, Brittany wouldn't have suffered any of this. She would be at home, safe and happy. Not stuck in a jail cell being used as a human punching bag.

"Lawson?" the guard asked, turning her attention to Brittany, who still hadn't moved. "This is the fourth night in a row you've refused to come to dinner, would it be easier if we got DiLaurentis to bring you back some dinner? The warden said it's okay for you due to the attention you seem to attract,"

Brittany slowly raised her head, wide eyes darting between Alison and the guard. She nodded her head shyly before burying her face in the pillow again. Alison turned to the guard, who nodded her approval, before stepping out of the cell towards the dining area, hearing the creaking of the cell door as the guard locked it again.

-x-

As she was leaving dinner after a rather unappetising meal, the female guard from before motioned her over to the kitchen. She walked over without question and was handed a clear, plastic container with a serving of tonight's dinner and a bottle of water.

"For Lawson," the guard explained, "and make sure she eats it. At the rate she's going, she'll starve to death before her sentence is over,"

Alison nodded and exited the kitchen and made her way back down the hallway to her cell. A guard was there waiting to open the door for her. He opened the door and shoved Alison inside roughly before locking it again. That was one guy Alison would like to see the back of. She turned to see Brittany sitting on her bed with her sketchpad and a pencil on her lap. Her eyes were still fearful but she seemed a little more relaxed after having done a bit of drawing.

"I've brought you some food," Alison said calmly as she stepped forward slightly. Brittany jumped back a little bit but didn't squeal. It was progress, Alison thought. Brittany pointed to the end of her bed, silently instructing Alison to put her food there. Alison did so quickly and Brittany waited until she had stepped back, watching her carefully, before snatching it up.

"I'm just going to get my book out of my box okay?" Alison said before turning towards the table.

"You didn't kill them,"

Alison nearly doubled over in shock before spinning around to look at her cellmate. Brittany was watching her thoughtfully while chewing very slowly on a piece of bread she had torn from the rest. When she saw Alison looking at her, she looked down at her food again and swallowed very deliberately.

Alison's head was still reeling from hearing Brittany speak in a voice that wasn't barely audible or a scream in terror. In fact the kid's voice was clear and non-shaky. It took her several moments to realise she was yet to respond.

"Uhm..I'm sorry, what?" she asked, stunned by Brittany's comment.

Her cellmate kept her eyes glued to her food, "You didn't kill those girls," she repeated before tearing some bread off and chewing even slower. Alison was shocked.

"Yo…You think I'm innocent?" she gasped, Brittany only nodded, "Why?"

She looked up to face Alison before answering, "Because you don't have murder eyes,"

Now Alison was just confused, "I'm sorry…what?"

Brittany twisted her mouth a little, "Been here a long time, I've seen a lot of murderers. And they each have this look in their eyes. No matter what they say, or how little remorse they seem to show. It's always there, even if they seem to be perfectly okay with killing people. There's always a little part of their conscience which regrets it, and it shows in their eyes. It's like it eats them from the inside," she explained, her voice was cautious and she still shied away from Alison but she was speaking to her. "You don't have it, there is something eating away at you, but its not regret for taking a life away," she finished before returning to her food.

Alison was deep in thought about what her cellmate had said. She sat down on her own bunk under Brittany's, thinking about how Brittany had explained it. Maybe she could use this to discover the identity of -A? She heard the scratching of a pencil again and knew that Brittany had gone back to her sketching.

"I'm being framed," she stated simply.

"I know," Brittany responded quietly, "It's obvious you didn't kill anyone. But why would someone frame you?" she asked curiously.

Alison smiled slightly, Brittany was asking questions, it was more progress. "It's a long story," she answered.

"I have time,"

Alison laughed slightly, of course she had time. It wasn't like they were going anywhere anytime soon.

-x-

"So -A framed you and turned your friends against you and that's how you ended up in this hellhole?" Brittany asked after over an hour of discussion.

"Basically, yeah."

"Jesus…" Brittany muttered quietly

"I often think to myself about how it's my fault. If I hadn't been such a bitch before I ran away, none of it would have happened," Alison muttered with regret.

"You can't think like that, you weren't to know," Brittany responded quietly, "Whoever this person is, they're crazy. They should be in here right now."

Alison thought about what Brittany had said for a minute. "I suppose you're right," she said after several minutes, "What about you? What's your story?"

There was silence for several moments, nothing could be heard except a cell door closing somewhere in the building before Alison heard a rustling of sheets before Brittany spoke, her tiny, shaken voice returning.

"It's not important,"

Just like that, Brittany Lawson's walls were back up. Alison sighed but she wasn't disappointed, she knew that she was making progress with Brittany, but that it was going to take time for her cellmate to trust her. After all, they were in a prison surrounded by criminals who were nasty, vicious and twisted.

Alison rolled over and closed her eyes, wondering about her cellmate and what could possibly have happened to this girl before she wound up in here.

-x-

"It's just a shower Brittany, and the guards will be there. It'll be fine," Alison says the next morning as they prepare for their morning showers. Because Brittany is the other inmates' favourite prey, they are allowed to go first. Though Alison could see her cellmate trembling profusely and jumping at every sound.

"It's not just the other prisoners that scare me," Brittany explained quietly. "It's the guards too. Some are kind, but most are just as bad as the prisoners,"

Alison froze, turning from where she had been looking for her shower shoes to face Brittany. "What do you mean?" she asked softly, voice laced with concern.

Brittany's eyes widened in fear, Alison could visibly see her cellmate's walls rising even higher than they already were. She spoke with a new level of fear in her voice.

"I..I can't tell you, even if I wanted to. Which I don't!" she quickly answered, "As long as I keep quiet, they leave me alone,"

"The guards?!"

Brittany squealed at Alison's loud response and jumped back, running to her bunk and wrapping herself up in the blanket like it were a cacoon, her face buried in her chest. From where she was standing, still in shock, Alison could hear soft crying again.

She walked back over to the bunks, climbing the steel ladder to the top bunk, Brittany's, for the first time since moving cells, and sitting on the edge of it.

"Brittany," she tried to make her voice as soft and reassuring as possible as she tried to tug the grey blanket away from Brittany's face in order to look at the girl. Brittany whimpered and tried to tug it back but Alison had already pulled it from her face and had it wrapped around her arms. Brittany cried a little harder and wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face in her chest.

"Brittany, do the guards…abuse you?" Alison tried again, "If you tell me, maybe I can help."

"You can't help, nobody can," Brittany wailed as she hugged herself tighter, Alison quickly realised that Brittany hadn't denied it.

"Brittany, do they?" Alison pushed, horror rising in her chest at the possibilities of what could have happened to her cellmate. Horror that overcame every fibre of her being when Brittany nodded her head.

Alison gasped, not only horror filling her now, but hot, white rage. "Why haven't you told anyone?"

"Who would take a prisoner's word over a guard's?"

Alison resisted the urge to touch Brittany, knowing that they had not yet made enough progress for that. Instead she cleared her throat and clambered off Brittany's bunk before picking up her towel and shower shoes.

"Come on, let's go shower," she said calmly, even though she wanted nothing more than to explode into a thousand pieces. Brittany looked up at her with a questioning gaze from her bunk. "You and I are going to have a shower in stalls next to each other," Alison explained, "I won't let anyone or anything hurt you okay? Promise."

Brittany searched Alison's features for a minute, the blonde guessing that she was checking for any sign of dishonesty or deceit. She mustn't of found any because a moment later she untangled herself and climbed down to stand a few feet away from Alison, picking up her own towel and shoes. Alison smiled softly at her before turning around and walking out of their cell, Brittany limping close behind.

-x-

Alison let the warm water soothe her as she washed her hair with some industrial minty shampoo the prison provided. It was no where near as pleasant as her fruity shampoo back home but as she reminded herself frequently, she was an inmate in prison charged with a murder she had not committed. Her own 'friends' having put her here. She wondered what lies the girls had been fed before Mona's death to make them believe so whole-heartedly that she was their tormenter and a murderer.

She should have seen it coming, -A was always going to try and separate her from the girls, especially from… No, she couldn't let that thought cross her mind until she had seen her and talked to her for herself.

She had wondered if Emily was ever going to visit her, though she knew the chance was slim, she still had hope. She knew that deep down, Emily would have doubts about her being -A or Mona's killer, and she was counting on that doubt in Emily to bring the brunette her to face her, so she could tell Emily her side of the story and, with any luck, win her trust again.

She was pulled from her thoughts when the water ran cold in the shower, she quickly shut it off and opened the curtain to collect her towel, quickly drying herself off and slipping into a clean jumpsuit with her number on it and leaving the stall to meet Brittany.

Her cellmate was rinsing the shampoo out of her hair with her back to Alison. Alison's eye widened at the state of her cellmate's back and legs as well. Bruises, scratches, red patches and scars covered almost every inch of her pale skin similar to her neck, face and arms. What alarmed Alison most though was the scars on Brittany's upper back. Lines of red going in every direction, they looked too perfectly straight to have been from just a fight and there was far to many of them to have been a one off occasion.

"Brittany?" Alison called out quietly, Brittany spun around and Alison's gaze dropped to the ground to give Brittany time to cover herself. Her cellmate grabbed her towel and quickly wrapped it around herself before turning to glare at Alison with wide, terrified eyes. She wasn't scared that Alison was going to hurt her this time, she was scared that Alison had seen… everything.

"Brittany, w-what are those scars on your back?" Alison asked concernedly, stepping towards Brittany slowly with her hands in front of her, "I've already seen them, can I have a look at them please?" Alison asked, taking another step towards her.

Brittany said nothing, she stayed frozen for several minutes before finally turning around so her back was to Alison and pulling her hair over her shoulder on one side so Alison could see. Alison pulled the towel down low enough so that she could see, but Brittany was still relatively well-covered.

Upon closer inspection, Alison could tell that these particular marks had not all been attained at the same time, some were paler than others, some were almost healed while others were red and raw. Whatever had done this, had been done more than once to her cell mate.

"What are they Brittany?" Alison asked, her voice shaken. The sight before her made her insides churn.

Brittany swallowed very deliberately before answering, "After lights out, she would take a razor blade she had stashed somewhere and make a new mark every single night. It was her own personal way of branding me after every beating she gave me. She liked to keep a tally, all she had to do was count the marks and she could boast to her group about how many time's she had beaten me. They found the razor blade the same night she was moved to a different cell," she responded in a tiny, broken voice.

Alison felt a warm tear slide down her cheek as she pulled her cellmate's towel back up and Brittany turned to face her. Picking up her own jumpsuit and sliding it on and buttoning it up at the front before looking at Alison again.

"Why didn't you tell someone?" she asked the kid, who was staring back at her with wide eyes that were a little softer than usual.

"Who would've believed me? It was only after they found the razor that they actually started listening to me,"

As Alison opened her mouth to respond, a door opening nearby and the sound of voices growing louder stopped her in her tracks. Brittany spun around to face the door, eyes wide in sheer terror as she began to cry. Alison turned around to see about 20 inmates entering the shower area. Brittany whimpered next to her with her gaze locked on a group of three large, well-built inmates talking amongst themselves as they approached the showers. One of them, a bulky woman with short black hair and tattoos covering her arms and neck, stopped talking upon seeing the kid and a sick, twisted smile formed on her face.

'Well, well," she said in a low, menacing voice as she stared Alison's cellmate down. "Has the hermit finally left her shell?" A couple of inmates watching the showdown sniggered. Alison's body stiffened defensively as she moved to stand in front of Brittany.

"Stay away from her." She growled at the woman, turning on the full force of her signature glare. She knew it wouldn't be much use against an inmate twice her size but it was better than looking scared.

The woman looked slightly taken aback for a second before cackling madly, her followers joining in along with a few other inmates. "And you're gonna stop me blondie?"

"Stay away from her," Alison repeated, louder this time. Brittany remained paralysed in fear behind her. "Unless you want your sentence extended, stay away from her. She might have been afraid to tell people about how she was being treated, but I'm not. If you touch a hair on her head again, I'll make sure your body rots away in this place."

The woman stared Alison down for a moment, Alison's glare never faltering, before scoffing loudly and turning around and stepping into a stall and closing the curtain. Alison turned around to Brittany, motioning with her head for the kid to follow her as they walked out of the shower area and back towards their cell. They walked in silence until Brittany spoke up.

"Alison?"

The blonde looked at her cellmate as they walked down the dimly lit hallway to their cell.

"Thankyou," Brittany muttered quietly as they walked, giving Alison a small, tight-lipped smile.

"You're welcome," she smiled back at the 17 year old, "and call me Ali,"

Brittany giggled softly for the first time since they had met, Alison thought it was sweet to hear her cellmate laugh.

"Okay," she responded finally, "but only if you call me Britt."

Alison laughed a little also before stopping in her tracks to face her.

"Deal."

-x-

**Chapter 3 synopsis: As Brittany begins to open up to Alison and the pair enter the early stages of a friendship, Alison can't help but be influenced by her new friend's kind nature. They share more about their past and themselves and after overhearing a conversation between an officer from Rosewood PD and a prison guard, Brittany makes an unexpected request. **


	3. There Are Worse Places

**Brittany begins to open up to Alison and the pair enter the early stages of a friendship, Alison can't help but be influenced by her new friend's kind nature. They share more about their past and themselves and after overhearing a conversation between an officer from Rosewood PD and a prison guard, Brittany makes an unexpected request. **

-x-

Alison looked up at the high fence with barbed wire surrounding them as she walked around the prison's outdoor exercise facility. Brittany was sitting by the door to the entrance to their cell block, drawing on the concrete at her feet with a rock she'd found. Alison had offered for her new friend to walk with her but had been kindly rejected. She didn't take it personally though, she knew her cellmate was so used to being alone that she wasn't sure how to act around the blonde.

At least Brittany wasn't scared of her anymore.

She stopped to lean against the fence and look out at the land outside of this hellhole. It was very barren, there seemed to be nothing in any direction for miles. Alison guessed that it was so that in the event of a break out, there wouldn't be any places for the escapee to hide and make it easier for them to be recaptured.

There were only two prisoners at a time allowed in this particular exercise area so Alison and Brittany were alone. It was only on those terms that Brittany would leave their cell and come outside. Brittany was very cautious about doing anything outside their cell. After a brief interrogation, Alison had discovered it was because Brittany was afraid of doing anything that would draw attention to herself, either from other inmates or the guards.

"Hey Britt!" Alison called to her friend. Upon hearing her name, Brittany glanced up to look at her and for once, her gaze wasn't fearful or cautious; it was trusting and curious as to what the blonde wanted. "Come over here," Alison encouraged kindly, motioning with her hand for her friend to come and join her.

Brittany paused for a moment before getting to her feet and hobbling over to where Alison was standing by the fence. If her leg hadn't of been injured after a particularly brutal beating several weeks ago, Alison thought her cellmate's walk would have been rather graceful. Brittany stood next to Alison, looking out over the barren landscape.

"They really think of everything when they build these places don't they," Alison commented, turning to look at her friend. Alison was about 4 inches taller than Brittany so she had to look down to look in her friends eyes.

Brittany nodded, "It's a shame they don't think this thoroughly in other aspects of society, we might have solved world hunger by now if they did."

Alison chuckled softly, though she believed Brittany had a point. "You'd have to be an idiot to try and break out of here."

Brittany kept her eyes locked on the fence as she said "There's a few idiots around here then."

Alison raised her eyebrows "There have been breakouts?"

Her friend nodded, "Attempted ones anyway, since I've been here there's been 3. Only one group ever made it out of their cell block. Though the knuckleheads seemed to think that once they were out of the block they could just walk out the front gates. It's normally only the ones with life sentences that try to get out. I guess they figure they have all to gain and nothing to lose,"

"So what happens to them?"

Brittany shrugged. "The lucky ones spend a week or two in solitary and have their privileges taken from them, but they can earn them back if they behave. The others are sent to a supermax for 6 months and then brought back here, though when they get back, they're never the same."

Alison looked at her curiously, "Supermax?"

"Short for Super Maximum Security. From what I've heard it makes this hole seem like a resort."

Just then a prison guard opened the door, yelling at Alison and Brittany that their time was up and that they had to return to their cell.

-x-

Several hours later, two guards unlocked their cell and entered, carrying a set of shackles and one was holding a baton. Brittany sank back on her bed against the wall in fear and Alison sent her a questioning glance before turning to look at the intruders.

"Stand against the wall DiLaurentis, and no funny business." The guard carrying the shackles instructed Alison, she did as she was told without question. These didn't seem like the kind guards Brittany had mentioned. "Lawson, come down here now, someone wants to speak with you."

Brittany looked absolutely terrified, she was looking at Alison with an almost pleading look. Something clicked in Alison's brain and she realized why Brittany was so terrified.

"Why does she need to be restrained then? We're only supposed to be restrained when we are being transported or if we are a danger to ourselves, others or the property?" Alison questioned, "If someone wants to see her, she has a right to not be shackled."

The two guards laughed in her face, the one carrying the black baton walked over to where she was standing at got right in her face.

"You inmates don' make the rules 'round here. If we want to chain her up, we can." He sneers as the other guard pulls Brittany roughly from her bed and makes her stand in front of him before grabbing her wrists roughly and clasping the handcuffs around them as Alison watches in horror. She sees Brittany wince and notices that he has secured them too her wrists extremely tightly. Alison could already see her friend losing blood in her hands.

"They're too tight, you're cutting off her circulation," She said quickly. The guard turned to look at her with a smirk on his face. "Just loosen them, she won't cause you any trouble. Please." She begged, in a desperate attempt to help her friend.

As if to spite her, the guard tightened the handcuffs further until Brittany was whimpering in pain before bending down and securing them to her ankles just as tightly before walking and sliding open the bars to their cell. Brittany turned to look at Alison with sheer terror in her eyes. Alison could only pray to a god she wasn't sure she believed in that her friend would be okay.

"You'll be okay," She whispered in an attempt to comfort her cellmate as she was shoved harshly out of the cell, falling forward from the force of the guard's arm to her tiny body. She fell on her face and couldn't get back up because of her shackles arms and legs.

The second guard slid the bars to their cell closed, locking Alison inside. She rushed forward to look him in the eyes as he locked the cell.

"Don't hurt her please." She begged in a whisper with tears falling freely from her eyes. She had never felt so helpless in all her life, watching as her friend writhed in pain while the other guard screamed at her to get up.

The guard put his key back in his pocket and smiled a horribly smug smile at her, "If we do, you murderers deserve it," he sneered before turning around and walking over to where Brittany was still struggling to get back to her feet. He grabbed her cellmate by the collar and pulled her roughly to her feet. Brittany turned around to give Alison another petrified look before being shoved down the hallway and out of sight.

-x-

Brittany tried to suppress the tears that were flowing from her eyes as she was led to a holding bench by the front door to the cell block, she closed her eyes as she was pushed down to sit on the bench and while the guard escorting her shackled her into place. Her hands were snow white from the lack of blood flow due to the tightness of the bindings, though she tried not to let the pain show on her face. She knew better than to show weakness or pain in front of the guards and other inmates, as it only fuelled their feelings of power and control.

The guard stood up and walked away without a word, leaving Brittany alone in the hallway. She could feel the fear rising up inside of her faster than a volcano eruption, what were they going to do to her? Why was she here? Who was it that wanted to see her?

She closed her eyes and tried to drown out her surroundings, it was her way of coping when she was afraid. She allowed her mind to take her away from the awful place she was trapped in, she pictured herself flying over mountains and lakes as she soared like a bird; flying over cities and oceans, until she finally landed across the field from a large house in the country with hundreds of roses blossoming and a swing set and trampoline in the front garden.

In front of the door was her mother, hair and eyes almost identical to hers and a broad smile across her face. She opened her eyes wide as Brittany imagined herself running into them and holding her mother tight, burying her face in the crook of her neck.

She imagined a little tug on her pants, looking down to see her little brother Ben smiling up at her, holding his arms out also. She visualises herself picking him up and spinning him around before planting a kiss on his cheek. She dreamed of reuniting with her family, though her mother had taken her own life shorty after Brittany had been sentenced, she hoped to reunite with Ben. She didn't know what had happened to him after she had been arrested. She wondered if he had gone with their father, she doubted it, that would include acknowledging that they existed.

"…but if Alison DiLaurentis is innocent…" Brittany's eyes shot open at the mention of her friend's name, "then the real murderer would most likely have already left the country." She looked up to see two officers, one in a navy blue uniform she recognized as Rosewood PD uniform, and the other in the uniform of the Chester Women's Correctional Prison Guard, walking down the hallway towards the door.

Brittany lowered her head to look at her shackled feet to try and make it less obvious that she was listening in.

"Mona Vanderwall's DNA was found in the trunk of her car, but the car was not in Alison's possession on Thanksgiving. It was in the repair shop after a brake failure. The evidence that lead to her arrest was the video that was discovered at the crime scene," The Rosewood PD officer stated as he collected his sidearm from the reception and secured it on his belt.

"The blonde haired girl in the black hoodie?"

"Exactly, and Alison's alibi was proved to be false which lead to her arrest." The Rosewood officer said with an almost regretful tone to his voice as they reached the door. "Until next time Sam," he added as he held his hand out for the prison guard to shake.

"Take care Cavanaugh." The guard said as he shook his hand before turning around and walking back up the hallway, as the Rosewood officer walked out the door and into the car park.

Cavanaugh, she had to remember that name. Officer Cavanaugh from Rosewood PD.

"Miss Lawson?"

She looked up when she heard her name, seeing a middle aged woman with a dark coloured perm looking down at her with a mug of coffee in her hand.

"I'm Lieutenant Tanner, FBI. " The woman introduced herself, reaching down and shaking Brittany's shackled hand. "I'd like to talk to you about Detective Darren Wilden."

-x-

Alison hurried back to the cell after scoffing down her dinner to see if Brittany was back yet. Her cellmate had been gone for several hours and she was beginning to worry. She rounded the corner and power walked to their cell, walking in to see her friend lying on her bunk with a blank expression on her face. Alison feels relief flood through her as she enters the cell, ignoring the sound of the bars closing and locking behind her.

"Oh thank goodness! Are you okay?" She breathes as she takes a step closer to the bunk beds, "Did they hurt you?! Did-" Alison is cut off when she sees something shining in Brittany's lap, she rises on her tip-toes to get a better look and is horrified to see handcuffs still clasped tightly around Brittany's wrists. Her ankle shackles had been removed but her wrists were still firmly chained together.

This is ridiculous, Alison was sure that it was against the rules for inmates to be restrained inside their cells. Why had they not taken them off when she got back?

"Wh-why do you have those on?" She gasped, climbing up and sitting on the end of Brittany's bunk.

Brittany swallowed thickly as she rotated her wrists, they were tight but not so tight that they were cutting off her circulation anymore. It was something, the blonde thought.

Brittany gave Alison a soft smile before answering, "They never came off. The guards freed my ankles but decided to keep these on."

"Why would they do this?"

"Because they can, Ali."

"Are you sure that's the only reason?" Alison pushed gently, sensing that Brittany wasn't telling her something.

Brittany sighed, moving her hands a little, causing the handcuffs to jingle slightly. "I think they did it to prove to you that there's nothing you can do to stop them from doing what they want. They saw that you were worried about me and they decided to taunt you,"

Alison felt guilt crash into her hard as she looked at her friends chained wrists. "I'm so sorry Britt, maybe if I kept my mouth shut they would have taken them off,"

Brittany shook her head gently as she gave her friend a sad smile. "I'm not so sure about that Ali." She said with a sigh, "They love knowing that they have so much power over us, it makes them feel important and superior, it's not the first time they've done this to a prisoner from what I've heard,"

Alison opened her mouth to respond before something outside their cell caught her eye. A prison guard was doing their rounds. Alison recognized her as the same guard who had given Alison food for Brittany last night. She jumped off the bed and strode to the cell's opening, grasping the bars in both hands as she yelled "Hey!" to attract her attention.

The guard turned around with a puzzled expression on her face, "Is something wrong?" she asked curiously while she studied Alison's enraged expression.

Alison nodded vigorously, "My cellmate was shackled to go and meet a visitor, when she came back the guards refused to remove her handcuffs. She still has them on!" she said very fast, trying to calm herself down by taking deep breaths.

The guard widened her eyes in shock as she walked to the front of their cell and peered in, "Seriously?" she exclaimed in surprise. Her eyes widened even further when she saw that Alison had been telling the truth and the cuffs were fastened to Brittany's wrists. "Come here Lawson," She said gently as she dug her hand into her pocket.

Brittany shuffled to the end of the bed and jumped off and walked to stand beside Alison. The guard pulled out a small key from her pocket and threaded her hand through the bars to unlock Brittany's cuffs. Brittany removed them and handed them to the guard, thanking her quietly before returning to her bunk, massaging her bruised wrists.

After the guard left, Alison returned to her bunk; lying down and staring at the mattress above her where she knew Brittany was tending to her red, swollen wrists.

"Ali?" she heard her friend whisper from above her.

"Mmm?"

"Where were you? At the time of the murder?" Brittany asked softly as she picked up her sketchbook and continued laying the finishing touches to her drawing.

The question caused Alison to sit upright and stare at her cellmate's mattress, "Where did that come from?"

"I know you didn't do it, so I'm just wondering where you were when it happened…and why you didn't tell the police your alibi."

Alison sighed, "If I gave them my alibi, I would have ended up in here anyway because I was-"

"We don't have to do this tonight Ali," Brittany cut her off, "You can tell me when you're ready."

Alison smiled at her friend's understanding, there was something about Brittany that she was really drawn to, but she couldn't work it out yet.

"Thankyou." She murmured softly, "Goodnight Britt" she said as she rolled over and pulled the skimpy blanket over herself in an attempt to stay warm.

Somewhere above her she heard her friend breathe out "Goodnight Ali,"

-x-

The next morning, Brittany left the cell early while Alison was still asleep. She moved into one of the telephone booths and dialled the prison's operator.

_"State your name." _

"Brittany Lawson. I'd like to make a call to Officer Cavanaugh of Rosewood Police Department."

She waited as the phone ran until a man's voice could be heard answering on the other end.

"Officer Cavanaugh? I'd like to arrange for you to come and visit me. I have some information you might like to hear, about the murder of Mona Vanderwall."

-x-

**What's Brittany up to? How does she know Wilden? What does she want to talk to Toby about? Please leave a review for me, they really brighten my day and encourage me to write faster. I'm glad to see so many of you are enjoying this story and the friendship between Alison and Brittany. **

**Here's the synopsis for chapter 4; Maybe I Was Wrong: **

**Angry over Brittany's unfair treatment at the hands of the prison guards, Alison tries to see the warden but discovers it may be harder than first thought. Brittany's nightmares lead Alison to have questions about her friend's father and Brittany's discussion with Toby creates enough doubt that an old friend comes to visit Alison. **


	4. Not an update! Warning! Spoilers!

**Hey guys, **

**So chapter 4 is on it's way very soon. Though as a thank you for all your support, I'm going to post the synopsis' for the next 3 chapters so you guys will have an idea of whats to come in this story. There are some major spoilers! You have been warned! Please leave me lots and lots of reviews, I love reading them so much haha xoxox**

**Chapter 5: When Alison finds out that her friend was tormented and humiliated by some particularly unpleasant inmates, she sets out on a quest for revenge which leads her to making an unexpected discovery. Brittany fears that her newly exposed secret will make her even more of a target and when a riot breaks out in the dining area, she finds herself having to choose between Alison's safety and her own. **

**Chapter 6: With Brittany in solitary, Alison must face the wrath of their new enemies alone. Knowing that the other inmates are out to hurt her, she begs Toby for help in getting Brittany released from solitary and learns that her friend has been helping him find evidence to clear her name. **

**Chapter 7: Suspecting that Tanner knows more about her problems with Wilden than she is letting on, Brittany attempts to bait her into revealing what she knows. Alison suspects her friend is preparing to take the fall for an incident Alison caused in the shower room, Brittany's sketchbook reveals some answers about her friend's paranoia and Alison gets an unwelcome visitor. **

**There you guys have it, if you have anything you would like to be put into the story leave me a review or PM and I'll do my best to add it. **

**Much love to y'all xoxox**


	5. Maybe I Was Wrong

**Angry over Brittany's unfair treatment at the hands of the prison guards, Alison tries to see the warden but discovers it may be harder than first thought. Brittany's nightmares lead Alison to have questions about her friend's father and Brittany's discussion with Toby creates enough doubt that an old friend comes to visit Alison.**

The sound of the heavy metal door to the interview room opening and closing caused Brittany to look up from where she had been staring blankly at the table, her hands and feet already secured to the table and chair, and assess the young man who had just walked through the door.

He was wearing the uniform she recognized as belonging to Rosewood Police Department, he had sandy coloured hair and blue eyes. He was tall and slender and he wore a cautious expression as he sat opposite her at the table, placing the folder he had been carrying in front of him.

His eyes looked up to meet hers and she tried her best to resist the urge to look away or to cry, she was doing this for Alison and she couldn't let her fears get in the way now.

"I'm officer Toby Cavanaugh, Rosewood PD." The man said calmly, his eyes never leaving hers, "So you must be Brittany."

She nodded slowly, searching his eyes like she did with everyone she met. He seemed like an honest guy, his eyes certainly didn't show him as a threat or corrupted like some of the police officers she had had the misfortune of having to deal with. She decided that she could trust him, at least for the moment. Toby's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"You wanted to see me? About the murder of Mona Vanderwall?"

She nodded again, tilting her head to one side until she heard a crack, her go to move when she was nervous. "You have the wrong person. Alison DiLaurentis is innocent."

Toby leaned back in his chair, raising his eyebrows questioningly. "What makes you say that, and how can you be sure?"

She leaned forward slightly when he leaned back, "She has an alibi, and it doesn't involve being in Rosewood at the time of the murder."

"How do you know this?"

"She told me,"

Toby laughed, shaking his head a few times. "Alison DiLaurentis is a compulsive liar, she can fool lawyers. The fact that she said it means nothing."

His face fell a bit when he saw that Brittany's hadn't changed, she knew something he didn't and his actions had proven her theory from before he'd even walked into the room. He was emotionally involved in this case.

"She told me about her past, about -A, about the lies she told. I know it all, though I'm not sure where you fit into it all but I can tell this is more to you than just another case." She sent him a knowing smirk before continuing, "but I also know when she's telling me the truth and when she's lying to me. She hasn't lied to me once she I met her."

Toby's face hardened when he realised that Brittany knew that this was personal to him. "What makes you so sure?"

Brittany leaned back in her chair but kept her eyes glued to his. "They say the eyes are the windows to the soul for a reason, Officer," She replied, "You just need to know what to look for."

She smirked again, not an evil smirk, just letting him know that she had him pinned and that if he got in the way of justice for her friend, she would make him pay.

"I've read your file," Toby said simply as he leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands together on the table. "I personally don't think you should be here, given the situation your crime took place in." His eyes displayed signs of sympathy for the girl across from him and Brittany didn't miss it.

"Well I'm here, nothing can change that," She responded bluntly, not sure what Toby was getting at with that comment, "but she has done nothing to deserve being here, she didn't commit the crime she is in here for, and all the evidence that points to her is bogus." She spoke as calmly as she could, even though she could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

Toby said nothing, he just nodded his head, a silent signal for her to continue.

"This -A person is out to torture her." Brittany said firmly, her anger at anyone hurting her new friend rising to the surface, "and what better way to do that then to isolate her from those she loves, those she _would _kill for if she had to, make them think she was the evil one, throw her in here and make her watch as they torment and break those she loves more than anything."

Toby sat with his mouth hanging open slightly, she knew she had him now. She knew he was beginning to see the truth.

"W-What is her alibi?" He stuttered.

"I can't tell you that." She responded, knowing that if Alison's reasons for meeting Cyrus were discovered, then she would be charged with giving false testimony and tampering with evidence. "But what I can tell you is this, she has an alibi. People may lie, and people can be set up, but security footage, credit card transactions and witnesses can help you get closer to the truth. You're looking in the wrong places."

With that, she motioned to the guard that she was finished, he came in and released her from the table and chair and led her back to her cell, leaving Toby in the interview room with his mouth wide open.

-x-

"Where have you been?" Alison asked as she sat up on her bunk as Brittany entered the cell and moved to the table.

"Had a cop come to visit me." She responded vaguely, not wanting to give any details about her discussion with Toby. She figured the less she shared with Alison at this point, the better.

"About your case?"

"Something like that," Brittany answered as she picked up a hair tie and pulled her hair into a high ponytail before picking up her sketchbook and climbing into her bunk. Alison could tell that her friend was hiding something but decided not to push it today. She lay back down on her bunk and continued staring at the mattress above her, her nerves settling down slightly now that Brittany was safely back in their cell.

"Hey Ali?" She heard Brittany whisper

"Yeah?"

She saw Brittany hang her head over the side of her bunk to look at her, she was upside down but Alison could still see her friend eyeing her curiously. "This morning, when you told me about the kidnapping story and Cyrus. Do you think somebody payed him to lure you out there so that they could kill Mona and frame you for it?"

Alison nodded her head, "I do."

"So he would know who payed him off right?"

She nodded again, "Yeah…"

Brittany swung off her bunk, landing gracefully on her feet and sat on the end of Alison's. "It seems clear to me that whoever payed him off is the murderer or knows who is. So maybe if Cyrus is questioned by the police, and they get him to spill who payed him, maybe that'll lead them to the real murderer and you'll be off the hook."

Alison shook her head, "I can't do that."

"Why?"

"Because Cyrus escaped custody after I identified him as my kidnapper, if they knew I was meeting with him about our deal then I'd have been arrested anyway." She explained, frustrated at the mess she had gotten herself into.

Brittany frowned, before shrugging her shoulders and giving Alison a small smile.

"We'll figure something out Ali. You won't get convicted, I promise you that."

"Don't make promises you can't keep Britt. -A may find a way to make me guilty enough to get me convicted and sentenced." Alison responded with a sigh. She knew she deserved this, and worse for her actions before her disappearance.

"This is one I can keep Ali."

Alison turned to face her friend but Brittany had already gotten to her feet and picked up her one of the books she had resting on the table before climbing into her bunk. Alison wondered why her friend had said that but decided not to push it at the moment. There was another question she had been wanting to know ever since she had met Brittany, but had been afraid to ask for fear of scaring her cellmate.

"Britt?"

"Hmmm?"

"When I was being transferred, the warden told me about you and your case. He said that you made no attempt to defend yourself during your trial. He said when you were called to the witness stand, you just said that you killed him and left. Why didn't you defend yourself? Why did you just accept a two year sentence?" She asked quickly, hoping to god that Brittany wouldn't be offended or upset.

She heard her cellmate take a deep breath before answering.

"Because I did it. I killed him. Whatever the reason may have been, I still took his life away. I knew when I did it that I would end up here because of it, and I was okay with that. They ask you to tell the truth on the witness stand. I put my hand on a bible and promised to tell the truth, and I did" Brittany's voice sounded croaky and Alison guessed that she was crying but she didn't move, she waited patiently for Brittany to finish.

"The judge heard all the evidence and decided it was in self defence but the DA insisted that I be punished because at the end of the day, I still murdered someone. The DA brought forward all these claims that I was mentally unstable and that I had motives to kill him before I saw what he was doing to my mom. He said that I would've killed him anyway and that when I saw him hurting her, I figured I had a perfect opportunity to get rid of him and get away with it. The detective in charge of the investigation said that he believed I had planted the knife to murder him that night while he was asleep. It was such a mess of a trial. The DA was going down a list of accusations until they found one that would stick. I'm sure he paid off the detective but I couldn't prove it."

Alison's jaw was on the floor as she listened, she couldn't believe what Brittany had been through and how the DA and lead detective had made such a joke of her trial. It couldn't be called fair in the slightest.

"But…Britt, I don't understand why they were so determined to prove you guilty."

Brittany chuckled darkly. "That's just it, they _had _to prove me guilty. They had to find a way to make me look guilty and paint me as a liar. Or they risked losing their jobs."

_Their jobs? What? Why would they have lost their jobs? _Alison thought as she processed the news. "What do you mean?"

She heard Brittany adjust her position in her bed. "Because I found out that the cop had been paid off to alter a report, something about a roof and a suicide. I overheard him discussing it on the phone with someone when I was in the police station on my paper route. If I had brought it up, his credibility would be ruined and most likely he would of been taken off the force. He knew that I knew and he figured if he made me out to be a liar, then if I brought up what I'd heard, nobody would believe me."

Alison's head reeled from this new revelation. Her friend was in here because a police officer had given false evidence to a court to incriminate her to save his job. What a scumbag.

Alison opened her mouth to respond, and should probably have been relieved when the sound of chains jingling together attracted her attention. The words she was planning to use to describe Brittany's case investigator would surely have been frowned upon.

Two guards opened the bars to their cell and stepped in. Alison was grateful to see that they weren't the same ones from yesterday. She got up from her bed and stood against the wall opposite the cell's opening, something she had learned was helpful in letting the guards know you weren't looking for trouble, and Brittany jumped down from her bunk and did the same.

One guard, a middle-aged female with long blonde hair that Alison suspected had been dyed to hide the grey hairs beginning to show, stepped forward slightly and gave both of them a small smile. "It's okay ladies, you don't have anything to worry about." she said in her most reassuring voice, Alison's body visibly relaxed and she felt Brittany's do the same next to her. "You both have a visitor, they want to talk to Lawson first and then DiLaurentis. So we're going to take you both now and then DiLaurentis, you'll be secured while Lawson speaks to the visitor and then Lawson, you will be secured while DiLaurentis sees the visitor and then we'll bring you both back. Okay?"

Alison and Brittany shared a confused look, who the hell would want to see both of them? They both turned to the guard, who Brittany didn't seem to be too afraid of which made Alison think that she was one of the 'kind' ones Brittany had referred to when they had first met, and nodded, Alison a little more enthusiastically than Brittany since this was her first visitor since Hanna a few days after her admission to this hellhole.

The guard nodded also, mutually acknowledging that they had an agreement. "Okay, DiLaurentis, step forward so we can put these on," the guard ordered, holding up the restraints that Alison was getting increasingly familiar with. She stepped forward and held out her wrists and allowed herself to be shackled. The guard made sure that the restraints were tight enough to secure her, but not tight enough that they were cutting off her circulation, (Alison shivered at the memory of Brittany being led away with her hands turning white due to the too-tight handcuffs she wore) before doing the same to Brittany.

Once they were both cuffed, the male guard who had stayed silent by the cells entrance led them out while the female helped Brittany to walk since her limp had gotten worse since her abuse at the hands of the two stuck-up guards.

They were escorted to the visiting area, where tables with a clip to secure inmate's handcuffs to the table were along with two chairs, one on either side, lined up in neat rows. Alison was secured to a bench outside the door while Brittany watched. Once Alison was locked to the bench, she looked at her friend to see a familiar terror in Brittany's eyes and a tear slipping from her eyes.

"What's wrong?" She whispered softly while one of the guards went into the visiting room to talk to their visitor, probably to outline the rules.

Brittany let out a strangled sob, "I'm scared."

Alison felt her heart break, she had forgotten how afraid Brittany was of situations she had no control over, their friendship leading her friend to be more confident around her and less afraid.

"It's going to be okay," She tried to assure her cellmate, giving her a soft smile, "There's no way you'll get hurt with the guards here."

Just then, the guard returned and motioned to the other guard to bring Brittany in. Brittany gave her friend a stiff nod before shuffling forward towards the door, stumbling through it and Alison watched the door close behind her with a heavy thud, leaving her to wonder who had come to see them and why.

-x-

Brittany kept her head down and her eyes to the floor and she was lead to a table and made to sit down. Just as the female guard moved to attach her handcuffs to the table, she heard a gentle voice coming from the chair across from her speak up. "That won't be necessary."

The guard, who Brittany knew as being Officer Robyn Palmer, stopped securing her hands and looked up to the visitor, "You sure?" she asked the unknown visitor curiously. Brittany, who was still staring at the floor, guessed that this didn't happen often and it had taken Palmer by surprise.

"Yes" the visitor responded, Brittany knew that it was a voice she didn't recognize and that only added to her anxiety. Palmer released Brittany from the table but ordered her to put her hands in her lap. Brittany obeyed without question.

"Best behaviour Lawson." Palmer warned and Brittany nodded slowly, keeping her head down and eyes fixed to the floor. Palmer moved to the door that Alison was sitting on the other side of and stood in the corner to give Brittany and her visitor some privacy. Brittany felt a tear slide down her cheek again as she sank lower into the chair, terrified.

She hears the chair opposite her scrape across the concrete floor as the stranger moved closer to the table and therefore, Brittany.

"Hello," The visitor spoke in a soft, yet confident voice. Brittany squeaked and flinched, she was very uncomfortable right now. The only person she was comfortable around was Alison, and she had no idea who this stranger was or what she wanted with her. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you."

Brittany nodded slowly but still didn't look up. It wasn't very reassuring from someone she didn't know. The visitor cleared her throat before speaking again.

"My name is Emily, Emily Fields."

Brittany's eyes widened, she knew that name. Alison had told her all about Emily and the other girls during their conversations about -A and Alison's past. She finally lifted her head to look at her visitor.

Emily was exactly the way Brittany had pictured her from Alison's description. She had wavy brown hair that flowed over her shoulders, her skin was naturally tan and she had wide, gentle, chocolate brown eyes. Brittany didn't need to search them for long to know that Emily wasn't a threat to her.

"It's nice." She finally found her voice as she studied Emily some more, taking note of the girl's shocked expression at her injuries.

Emily seemed to regain her composure after a few minutes of taking in Brittany's mangled face and arms, and raised her eyebrows at the inmate. "It's nice what?" She asked Brittany, taking care to make sure her voice was gentle, her discussion with Toby this morning letting her know about Brittany's situation and mental state.

Brittany allowed her posture to soften a little as she kept her eyes glued to Emily's, "It's nice to be able to put a face to the name."

Emily's eyes widened in surprise. "You've heard of me?" Brittany only nodded, "What do you know?"

"Everything. Including how quickly you and the others are willing to betray one of your own without hearing their side of the story."

She had done this deliberately. She intentionally took a stab at Emily to see her reaction, Brittany was trying to figure out if Emily was here to listen or to accuse.

Emily frowned before glancing down at her feet and began playing with her fingers. Brittany's comment had hurt, the way the girl had phrased it made Emily feel worse than she already did.

"That's why I'm here, to hear her side of the story." Emily finally responded after several minutes of awkward silence.

Brittany scrutinized her face and body language, like she did with everybody she met. "So what do you want with _me_?"

"You're Alison's cellmate, clearly she has been talking to you. My friend, Toby, the cop, told me that you had him come and visit you and you told him that you knew Ali was innocent and that he was looking in the wrong places."

Brittany nodded, gesturing for Emily to continue.

"I want to know what you know, why you are so certain that she didn't murder anyone, and why you believe her when you know about the lies she has told in the past."

Brittany thought for a second, trying to figure out what it was safe to tell Emily and what Alison wanted kept a secret at the moment. "She has an alibi. She wasn't even in Rosewood at the time of the murder. I know she's innocent because she told me everything. I can tell when I'm being lied to, and I know that she isn't lying when she tells me she didn't kill anyone."

Emily stared at her like she had grown two heads. Brittany wasn't sure if it was because Alison had an alibi or that she knew everything that had happened to them over recent years. "Sh..She has an alibi?" There was her answer. "What is it?"

Brittany cracked her neck to one side. "It's not my place to say any more than that she was meeting with someone. She's chained to a bench on the other side of that door-" She motioned to it with her head, "if she wants you to know, she'll tell you. Just know that she's telling the truth, she didn't kill anybody and she's been framed. If you and your friends can't wrap your heads around that and get on the same page with her, then you'll all be on this side of the table wearing these-" She raised her hands so Emily could see the handcuffs before placing them back in her lap, "and rocking the orange jumpsuits like we are."

She had also done this deliberately. She was making sure Emily knew that they couldn't win without Alison, she knew enough about the -A situation to figure that much out. She knew things that the girls didn't as well, Alison had been keeping secrets from them but there was no danger in telling her prison cellmate. She took a deep breath before continuing.

"She's on your side, she always has been. She's trying to protect you because the less you know, the better. She's trying to keep you all safe but there's not much she can do from in here. She cares about all of you so much, especially you Emily!"

She hadn't meant to let that one slip, her agitation at the girl in front of her had clouded her judgement and her determination to make Emily see the truth had caused her to unintentionally spill Alison's secret.

Alison had confessed her love for Emily the night before, only after Brittany noticed that she seemed to be especially hurt by Emily's betrayal, had Alison admitted that her feelings for Emily were not platonic.

Emily let out a gasp, bringing her hands to cover her mouth. Brittany silently cursed herself for not keeping her mouth shut and spilling something that Alison should have told Emily herself.

"Wh…what…what do you mean?" Emily asked hesitantly. Brittany racked her brains to try and fix this and remembered something Alison had told her when describing what it had been like to arrive at a barn in the middle of nowhere, fearing that she was too late.

"You were always her favourite Emily. She was crying when she told me about when she pulled you out of the barn. She thought she was too late, she said that she has never been so terrified in her whole life."

Emily's eyes were shining with unshed tears. Brittany could tell she had gotten her point across, she leant across the table slightly.

"She's innocent, she's on your side, and she needs you. Don't let -A break you guys apart because you can't win this on your own, and neither can Ali. You can only do this together, otherwise it's already over."

She nodded to Palmer, who walked over to stand behind her. She stood up and allowed herself to be led away, leaving Emily sitting at the table.

-x-

Alison's ears perked up at the sound of the door opening and chains rattling. She looked up to see Brittany being led towards the bench. She watched as her friend was made to sit down next to her and was secured to the bench. As soon as Brittany was chained in place, Alison turned to face her friend.

"Who is it? What do they want?" She whispered eagerly.

Brittany blinked several times before giving Alison a small smile, "Your friend, Emily."

Alison felt her heartbeat increase at the mention of her mermaid's name, Emily had finally come to see her? But wait, why the hell did she ask to see Brittany?

"It's alright Ali," Brittany reassured quickly, practically seeing the gears turning in Alison's head. "She's here to talk, she is willing to listen to you."

Alison felt a weight being lifted off her shoulders. Was it possible that Emily finally believed her?

"But…what did she want with you?" She asked quickly

Brittany shrugged. "She just asked me some questions, nothing bad. You better go see her, but be careful, she's a little…_emotional_."

As soon as Brittany had said it, Palmer had returned. She released Alison from the bench but kept her shackles on and led her through the door and into the visitor's room.

There she was, in the flesh. She had red, blotchy eyes; clearly Brittany had been right about her being emotional, and she wore a pained expression. She looked up to see Alison being led to the table and brought a tanned hand up to wipe a stray tear from her cheek.

Alison waited for Palmer to pull her chair back before sitting down, never taking her eyes off Emily's. Palmer brought Alison's hands up to rest on the table and raised her eyebrows at Emily, silently asking if she should lock Alison's cuffs to the table. Emily shook her head again.

Palmer turned to look at Alison. "DiLaurentis, hands in your lap and feet in front of you. No funny business or you'll be locked in." Alison obeyed and Palmer returned to the corner of the room, leaving the two girls to talk.

Emily bowed her head and began to play with her fingers. She had never, in her life, felt so much regret and guilt.

"Ali…"

"Why did you talk to Brittany Em?" Alison interrupted angrily before she could say anything else, "What could you possibly want with her? Are you trying to turn my only friend against me now too?! Is it not bad enough that you four and my brother had me thrown into a cage to rot for a crime I never committed, that now you're trying to make sure I rot alone?!" Alison spat, venom dripping from her every word.

While she was glad that Emily had come to see her, she was still angry that she hadn't listened to her and had worked to get her arrested. It was only when she finished speaking that she noticed Emily's eyes had filled with tears, which were now spilling from her eyes and down her cheeks. She could also hear the former swimming choking back sobs and she stared at her feet. It was only then that she noticed that Emily's head was hung in shame. She instantly felt bad.

Emily sobbed for another minute or so before finally calming down enough to talk. She raised her head to look at Alison to find the blonde looking back at her with a very different expression. It's stunned, curious, confused and wait, was that _sympathy_?

"A-A-Ali…I'm so sorry…I know it will n-n-never be enough but I'm s-so s-s-s-sorry" Emily choked out, sobs wracking her body.

Alison wished so desperately that she could reach out and touch Emily, to hold her hand and run her fingers along her delicate cheekbones. She knew that she couldn't however, so instead she gripped the orange fabric of her jumpsuit in her cuffed hands to refrain from touching the broken girl in front of her, and took a deep breath before responding.

"Em, I can't say I forgive you, because I don't know yet if I do. I certainly don't forgive the others, and I probably never will. I knew as soon as I got back that they would turn on me. They never understood me like you did…_do._" She corrected herself, realising that Emily wouldn't be here apologizing with tears in her eyes if she thought Alison was a murderer. "But I didn't kill Mona, or Bethany for that matter. I didn't kill anybody! It's all a set up!"

"I know Ali, I know," Emily spoke clearly for the first time, "That's why I'm here. I want to know where you were and why you didn't tell the police when Tanner arrested you," Emily paused and bit her lip, "and… I want to know what I can do to get you out of here."

Taken by surprise, Alison leaned back in her chair and stared thoughtfully at the brunette. She wondered if the other girls knew that Emily was here, had she lied to them about where she was? Did they share the same feelings about her as Emily did? Did they believe she was innocent?

"Answer my question first, then I'll answer yours," She said after a few minutes of awkward silence. "What did you want with Brittany?"

Emily felt a lump rise in her throat, which she quickly swallowed. "Well, firstly I wanted to make sure that the person you were sharing your cell with wasn't a danger to you," Alison felt her heart beat furiously in her chest. _Emily still cared. _

"Then," Emily continued, "I wanted to see how much she knew about…everything. She made it pretty clear that she knows about -A and what's been going on. Then she told me that we couldn't win this without you and that we needed to get on the same page or it was already over."

"She's a smart kid."

"Ali?" Emily breathed out quietly, she hadn't had the courage to ask Brittany this, but she felt she could ask Alison. "What _happened _to her? I mean, her face… I've never seen anything like it."

Alison fought back the urge to smile; there was her mermaid. The girl that was concerned about everyone she met, who always put the needs of others before her own.

"Em, look at her," Alison repeated the words of the guard she had talked to about Brittany's time in prison. "She's seventeen, she's scared and alone, she's not very strong and she won't stand up for herself. She's like an early Christmas present to some of the lunatics in here." Alison felt the anger boiling within herself again at the thought of Brittany being hurt. She looked over to see Emily's expression mirroring hers.

"She's only seventeen?! What the hell is she doing here?"

"It's a long story Em, but Brittany is just as innocent as I am."

Emily nodded, understanding that Alison didn't really want to talk about her friend. She decided to change the subject. "Where were you Ali? On thanksgiving."

Alison sighed, grateful for the topic change but also hesitant to answer the question. She knew though, if she had any chance with Emily, she had to be honest.

"Philly." She responded truthfully, "I was waiting for Cyrus, he wanted to meet so I went. I waited for hours and he never turned up."

"Where in Philly?"

"Some old café near the mall."

The two girls held eye contact for several minutes, brown eyes investigating blue. Emily eventually sighed and gave Alison a small smile.

"I believe you."

Alison's heart skipped several beats at those three words, she felt tears welling up behind her eyes and did her best to keep them at bay. She was so relieved that Emily was on her side, she knew her mermaid wouldn't rest until Alison's name was cleared.

"There has to be a way to prove I'm innocent Em." She said adamantly; there simply had to be.

"I'll start looking, I'll get Toby and the others to help me too. We'll get you out Ali." She promised

"Em?" Alison said quickly, though she was happy to have Emily on her side and helping to get her out, there was something nagging at her about leaving this place. "What about Brittany?" She couldn't leave her friend in this awful place when she didn't deserve it. She _wouldn't _leave Brittany behind.

Emily thought for a moment before answering. "If she's innocent, I'll find a way to get her out too. I'll get Toby to help."

"She said something about the detective who investigated her case being corrupt and giving false evidence during the trial." Alison remembered her and Brittany's discussion earlier that day.

Emily's eyes widened, "What kind of maniac would do that and why?"

"She has proof that he altered a report, something about someone falling off a roof I think," Alison racked her brains trying to remember exactly what Brittany had said, "She said she thinks he was trying to make her look guilty and paint her as a liar so that even if she said something about it, nobody would believe her."

Emily had frozen at this new revelation, something about this was awfully familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. She pushed it aside for the moment, making a mental note to come back to it later, before turning to Alison again.

"Try and see if you can find out anymore. I'll have Toby do some digging as well. I'll be back in a few days okay?" Emily promised. Alison nodded and Emily made a move to stand up before hearing Alison calling her name again.

"Em?"

She turned to look at Alison again, waiting patiently for her to speak. Alison gave her a soft smile.

"I missed you."

Emily returned the smile before standing up and Alison did the same, with Palmer walking to stand behind her.

"I missed you too Ali. I'll be back soon."

She had an overwhelming desire to hug the blonde but she knew she couldn't, so she turned to the door and walked away, looking over her shoulder to give Alison a reassuring smile, which the blonde returned.

-x-

"You're cheerful tonight."

Alison looked up to see Brittany sitting on her bunk with her legs hanging over the side as the cell bars closed behind her. Brittany still blatantly refused to go anywhere near the dining hall so Alison was allowed to bring food back for her. Though over the last few days, Alison had to sit with Brittany and watch her eat it to make sure she didn't flush it down the toilet.

"Emily believes me. She really believes me!"

Brittany gave Alison a small smile. "I'm so glad Ali," She said sincerely before turning to look out their cell window again, which she had been doing before Alison had returned from dinner. She had been here for a long time, and had forgotten what it was like to breathe fresh air and watch the sun set; and with her eighteenth birthday coming up in 5 days, she couldn't help but feel miserable.

"Yeah, so now maybe we have a ch-… BRITTANY WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" She raised her voice when she saw the area behind Brittany's ear bleeding. The dark red liquid staining her hair and dripping onto her neck and white prison issued shirt she was wearing, along with the orange track pants, having changed out of her jumpsuit once they got back from seeing Emily.

"Oh it's nothing. It's just…"

"It's not nothing!" Alison interrupted, placing Brittany's food and water bottle on the table and walking over to the steel toilet in the corner and ripping some paper off before walking back to the bunks. "Come down here." She commanded gently. Brittany obeyed, sliding down and landing in front of Alison. Alison pointed to her bunk, "Sit." Brittany sat down on Alison's bunk and waited.

Alison moved to stand in front of Brittany and brought her hand up to her chin and gently turned her head to the side. It was the first time Brittany had allowed Alison to touch her directly, Alison only having touched her towel in the showers.

Brittany's body tensed at Alison's touch but relaxed after a few seconds, she closed her eyes and let Alison gently dab at the cut behind her ear until the bleeding stopped.

"What happened Britt?" Alison's voice brought her back to the present. She felt a tear slip from her eye and brought a hand up to wipe it away, but felt another soft hand already wiping it away. She looked up to see Alison's eyes filling with tears as well and she felt the blonde bring her in for a tight hug. She brought her arms up to wrap around Alison as she buried her face in the crook of her friend's neck and sobs quietly while Alison holds her, rubbing her back up and down soothingly.

"I…I can't tell you." She stutters in between sobs.

"The guards again?" Alison asked, feeling anger boiling inside her again at the thought of those scumbags touching Brittany. She felt Brittany nod slightly into her neck and saw red for the next few minutes as Brittany cried into her shoulder.

"I'll find a way to stop this Britt, I promise." She vows as she holds her friend tighter to her chest as Brittany continued to cry.

-x-

When Alison awakes, the first thing she is aware of is her bunk moving back and forth. She opens her eyes hastily and it took a while for them to adjust to the darkness in their cell. She could hear it now, soft whimpering from the bunk above her. She rubs her eyes and listens closer.

"No…no…daddy…please."

In a flash Alison is out of bed and scurrying up the ladder. She reaches the top to find Brittany thrashing around in her sleep, her face in contorted in pain and her shirt is covered in sweat. Alison gently crawls towards her friend and grasps both her arms in one of her own, pinning them down and gently shaking Brittany's shoulder in an attempt to wake her up.

"Britt," she nudged the sleeping girl gently as she tried to make out the shapes in the dark. She could see beads of sweat on Brittany's face mixed with tears. She couldn't help but let a tear of her own slide at seeing the pain her friend went through, even when she was sleeping. "Britt, you need to wake up. Come on, its okay. I'm here" She said a little louder.

She felt Brittany stop struggling and could barely make out her eyes shooting open, wide and full of fear. She could see her friend was trembling and still breathing rapidly. Brittany sat up abruptly and clutched at her chest, grimacing in pain.

Alison jumped off the bunk and walked swiftly towards the table, picking up the water bottle she had brought for Brittany after dinner and quickly jumped back onto Brittany's bunk. She placed the bottle at the foot of the bunk before crawling up next to Brittany and wrapping her arms around her. Brittany brought her arms up to clutch at Alison's arm that was wrapped around her front, still panicking and hyperventilating.

"Shhh," Alison soothed as she gently rocked them back and forth, bringing her friend's head down into the crook of her neck and tightening her hold around Brittany's underweight (bordering anorexic) body. "I'm here, I've got you. It was just a dream."

After what felt like hours in this position, Brittany's breathing evened out and her hold on Alison loosened slightly, but she still kept a firm grip on the blonde. Alison leant forward and picked up the bottle she had tossed on the bed earlier, twisting the cap off and holding it in front of Brittany.

"Here. Drink."

Brittany took the bottle and took a swig while Alison cradled her gently, as she drank, her expression was distant and terrified. Alison brought one hand up to stroke through Brittany's brown hair. Brittany was one of those girls with naturally dead straight hair and Alison envied her for that.

Brittany finished drinking and handed the bottle back to Alison, who screwed the top back on and threw it towards their feet.

"Better?" Alison asked in a whisper as she wiped a tear from Brittany's face. Brittany was still trembling in her arms but was more relaxed than she had be when she had first woken from her nightmare. She nodded slightly before allowing herself to fall into Alison's chest, gripping Alison's white sleeping shirt in her tiny fists.

"Okay, I'm going back to bed, wake me if you need anything alright?" she said as she made a move to climb off the top bunk back to her own, and was surprised to notice Brittany hadn't released her shirt and was in fact, tightening her hold on it.

"Stay"

It came out as a broken whisper, as she tugged on Alison's shirt to try and get her to lay back down. Alison could see her wide eyes and panicked expression even in the darkness. She picked up the water bottle and tossed it onto her bunk below them before picking up the grey blanket Brittany had kicked off and crawling up to lay next to her and throw the blanket over them both. Brittany rested her head on the pillow and Alison followed suit, the two gazed at each other for a moment before Brittany closed her eyes. Alison continued to stare at her thoughtfully before she felt a tiny hand grip hers and squeeze slightly. Alison smiled slightly to herself and squeezed back, rubbing her thumb over Brittany

Several minutes later, Brittany began snoring softly while Alison lay awake and thought over the day. She wondered if Emily had spoken to the girls about her, and if they were all on the same page in regards to her innocence. She wondered if -A was still torturing them, though after remembering that -A was a complete psychopath, she was able to answer that question on her own, and last, but certainly not least, she wondered why Brittany had had a nightmare in which she had mentioned, and seemed to be afraid of, her father.

Still holding her friend's hand in her own, Alison closed her eyes and allowed sleep to overcome her.

-x-

**My deepest apologies for this taking so long to update, but it's my longest chapter so far so hopefully that will make up for it! Alison and Brittany are getting very close which I love! Their relationship will be purely platonic though, no romantic feelings. They will have a real big sister, little sister relationship eventually. What will Emily do? What's the deal with Brittany's father and what will Toby and Brittany do to clear Alison's name? Stay tuned to find out but feel free to leave me your thoughts and REVIEW! **

**As usual, the synopsis:**

**Chapter 5: When Alison finds out that her friend was tormented and humiliated by some particularly unpleasant inmates, she sets out on a quest for revenge which leads her to making an unexpected discovery. Brittany fears that her newly exposed secret will make her even more of a target and when a riot breaks out in the dining area, she finds herself having to choose between Alison's safety and her own.**


	6. A Gift From Me To You Warning! Spoilers

**Hey guys**

**Already halfway through chapter 5! Man I'm on a roll! I'm loving the support! PLEASE keep those reviews and messages coming! So as a gift from me to you, here is the synopsis for chapters 8 & 9. Don't worry, the rest of them will remain a surprise and you'll see why when I get there :) **

**Chapter 8: With tensions in the cell block increasing, and Brittany number one on everyone's hit list, Alison must take drastic measures to protect her friend. Emily is concerned about Brittany's mental state after her time in solitary and Alison employs the help of Mike to try and protect the girls from -A's scheming and getting them both out of prison before it's too late. **

**Chapter 9: Alison is distraught to learn Brittany is dying and becomes desperate to get them released. Toby and the Liars begin frantically searching for more evidence to clear their names, Emily visits Brittany to try and convince her not to give up and just as it seems all hope is lost, the devil them-self contacts Alison to tell her that they have the evidence she needs, but that it will come at a cost. **


	7. She Knew The Risk

**When Alison finds out that her friend was tormented and humiliated by some particularly unpleasant inmates, she sets out on a quest for revenge which leads her to making an unexpected discovery. Brittany fears that her newly exposed secret will make her even more of a target and when a riot breaks out in the dining area, she finds herself having to choose between Alison's safety and her own.**

-x-

"How the hell did that happen?!" Alison wondered out loud as two inmates were led away from the dining hall by a pair of guards. The two women had manage to get into an altercation which had escalated into a full-scale brawl that had to be broken up by at least five guards and three inmates.

"If I had to guess, I'd say Alexis got a little horny and Martha wasn't in the mood."

Alison turned to Brittany, who was walking several steps behind her and as far away from the door to the dining hall as possible, as they made their way outside for their daily exercise time. "Come again?"

"Martha is in for armed robbery and assault. She's big, she's angry, and she won't take anything lying down. Alexis is in for six counts of statutory rape of a minor. She was a teacher. She tries to get in some prisoner's pants and most don't do anything about it because she's not someone you should get on the bad side of," Brittany explained, still staying as far away from the dining hall as she could. "but if anyone would stand up to her, it would be Martha. Personally I'm hoping she got a few good punches in."

They turned a corner and a guard was waiting to unlock the heavy door and let them out. Alison stepped out and was temporarily blinded by the brightness from the sun. Brittany followed and took a seat by the door like she always did, picking up a rock and turning it over in her hands. Alison walked over to where her friend was sitting and leaned against the brick wall of their cell block.

"Why?"

Brittany continued to study the rock in her hands, not even acknowledging she had heard Alison for several seconds before looking up with a puzzled expression. "What?"

"Why do you hope she got some punches in?"

Brittany chuckled darkly, before taking the rock she had been holding and carving aggressively into the ground at her feet as though she was trying to take her anger out on the concrete. "Alexis and her cronies are animals. There's a hierarchy here. The big, strong ones hang around in groups and they're at the top of the food chain, most of them are in for violence of some kind," Alison had seen them, they travelled in packs and everyone else seemed to steer clear of them. "Everyone else is pretty much on the same level, with the exception of the rapists and child molesters. Everybody hates them, and the groups are no exception. Can't say I blame them."

Alison nodded, this made sense to her. "So what does this have to do with what just happened?"

Brittany continued without looking up from her scribbling on the ground. "Alexis though? This doesn't apply to her, nobody messes with her because she is a psycho. Rumour is that she used to force her students to perform strip teases for her in an empty classroom. Her first day here? She beat up her cellmate and broke one of the shower heads. The groups don't go near her because I think they're afraid Alexis will use them as her personal toy next, or just a punching bag. She may be out of shape, but god she's strong. Alexis has forced a lot of women in here to sleep with her."

Brittany squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, before shaking her head as if to rid herself of whatever thought had just crossed her mind. She raised her head to look at Alison and patted the place next to her, motioning for her to sit there. Alison pushed off the wall and sat cross legged next to Brittany.

"Alexis normally tries to feel up somebody during meals, unwanted touching from her is extremely common. Everyone who's been here for more than a month has had it happen to them before, at least once. Her and her 'followers' as we call them, they follow her around in order to stay on her good side and under her protection, love picking on the new guys and the weaklings. "

Alison was instantly reminded of her old cellmate and wondered if she had been one of the 'followers' Brittany was referring to. She certainly fit the criteria.

"Martha is the only one who will stand up to Alexis. After Alexis tried to make a move on her the first time, Martha told her straight to her face that she would drop her on her ass if she tried anything with her. I'm guessing Alexis didn't like someone standing up to her so she tried to intimidate Martha and it didn't exactly work."

Alison couldn't help but be in Martha's corner on this one.

"The worst bit though?" Brittany continued after a minute of silence. "Is that the rest of us, who aren't part of one of these groups, we get it the worst. Alexis' group and the other groups fight all the time, it's like a gang war, and we don't belong to any gang so we're the easy targets for all of them, 'Nomads' we're called. So if Alexis got her face rearranged a bit, you'll forgive me for not giving her a shred of sympathy."

"How do you know all this?"

"Why do you think I refuse to go near the dining hall?" Brittany sniffled and brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, curling up into a ball. "I'm their favourite target."

Alison held back a growl, feeling the anger boiling to the surface but she tried to suppress it in order to ask the question that had been on her mind since they had seen the fight in the dining hall.

"What will happen to them?"

Brittany chuckled darkly again. "They'll either lose their privileges or get sent to solitary. Personally? I'm hoping Alexis gets the latter and Martha is given flowers."

-x-

"DiLaurentis!"

The sound of a guard barking her name woke her from her nap, Brittany had decided to do some sketching after they had returned from their exercise, Alison having successfully convinced Brittany to walk some laps with her around the outdoor enclosure before their hour was up. She turned over in her bunk to see a guard glaring at her, tapping his foot impatiently and holding the usual set of shackles.

"There's no need to shout, I can hear you." she said sitting up and tossing the blanket to the side. She heard Brittany shift uncomfortably above her and clear her throat nervously, almost as if in warning.

"Get your shit together and get up," the guard ordered coldly, not at all impressed with Alison's comment. "Now what do you want?"

Alison had requested to speak to somebody in authority which, under law, she had the right to do. She had promised Brittany she was going to do something about the ongoing abuse her friend was going through, and she intended to see it through.

"I want to see the warden."

The guard looked at her like her hair was on fire for several seconds before laughing hysterically, Alison turned around to look at Brittany who had her head in her hands and was shaking her head slightly. When Brittany looked up, Alison gave her a confused look. "Why have a right to complain to the warden." she told her friend while the guard outside kept laughing.

"What makes you think they give a damn about our rights?"

"Watch your mouth Lawson!" the guard yelled at Brittany through the cell bars, Brittany jumped slightly and bowed her head and said nothing else. "If I hear you utter one more word of disrespect towards us, you'll regret it. Understand?" the guard threatened. Brittany nodded shyly, not looking up and keeping her eyes fixed on her hands in her lap.

"Answer me!"

"Yes sir." Brittany breathed out, voice shaking with fear. Alison walked over to stand next to the bunks. Keeping her eyes fixed on the guard, she reached up and took Brittany's hand in her own, linking their fingers together and rubbing her thumb over Brittany's, offering silent comfort.

"Good, have a nice day ladies." and with that, the guard stalked off, leaving Brittany and a fuming Alison alone.

Alison turned to Brittany, who was still scared even though the guard had left. Brittany gave Alison's hand, which she was still holding in her own, a gentle tug, silently asking Alison to come up and sit with her.

Alison climbed up onto the bed and moved to sit next to Brittany. The terrified girl immediately curled into Alison's side and rested her head on the blonde's shoulder. Alison brought an arm up to wrap around her friend's shoulder while her other arm snaked around Brittany's front, pulling the girl closer to her.

"Is there any way to see him Britt?" she asked hesitantly, pretty sure she already knew the answer.

"Your best bet is to hope to catch him while he's inspecting the block. Though you'd have to get through the guards to speak to him." Brittany yawned before asking in a low voice, "Why do you want to see him anyway?"

Alison sighed, feeling Brittany slowly drifting off in her arms.

"Because I made a promise."

-x-

Later that day, Alison and Brittany waited for the guards to unlock their cell and set off together for the shower. The two friends were first in as usual, Brittany preferred to be in and out before anyone else arrived. Alison turned off the shower and slipped into a white shirt and orange track pants, deciding against the jumpsuit today. She walked out off the stall to wait outside Brittany's, she felt better knowing that nobody could hurt her friend while she was there.

She heard a quiet gasp and turned to look into the stall. She saw Brittany reaching an arm around to touch a deep gash on her side, it was fresh too. It looked like she had been using toilet paper to stop the bleeding. Alison realised that Brittany's cut ear wasn't the only souvenir she had from whatever had happened last night. She picked up a dry towel and walked into the stall.

"Britt?"

At the mention of her name, Brittany spun around and clutched at her side. Alison wasn't sure if it was because she was trying to hide it or because it was hurting her. Alison walked up to Brittany, who had turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around herself just underneath the gash, didn't back away this time. Alison was really proud of the progress they had been making since they had become cellmates. Alison pressed the towel in her hand to the gash and placed one of Brittany's hands over it to hold it in place.

"You need medical attention, lets get you to the infirmary." Alison said in a gentle voice. Brittany gazed into Alison's eyes for a moment before nodding and moving to put her jumpsuit on, keeping the pressure on her wound with the towel Alison had given her. She picked up her towel and shower shoes and walked with Alison towards the door to the hallway. Just before they could leave the shower room however, a loud voice boomed through the room.

"Hey it's Hermit!"

Alison heard Brittany mumble "crap" under her breath and turned around to see a large blonde woman walking towards them. She was about 6 foot tall and she was bulky, had a black eye and a swollen lip. Alison concluded that it must have been a truck that injured her.

"Alexis…don't try Ali." Brittany whispered frantically. Alison stepped in front of Brittany, shielding her from Alexis.

"Isn't she in solitary?"

"Yes Alison, she's in solitary and her identical twin sister, who is also in prison, is coming towards us right now. Obviously having been in a fight, oh…I don't know…maybe this morning?" Brittany said sarcastically, clearly panicking.

"Britt, just calm down. I won't let her hurt you."

Alexis laughed as she stood in front of Alison, who was still guarding Brittany. "What are you gonna do about it Princess?"

Alexis towered over Alison, and in this situation, most people would back down. But Alison DiLaurentis was too stubborn to be pushed around by anybody.

"You won't touch her, the warden knows what you do to her and I'll make sure he finds out about this. She isn't your punching bag and I swear, I'll make you pay for what you've already done to her." Alison snarled as Brittany whimpered behind her. Alison could feel her friend trembling and she reached a hand behind so Brittany could hold it for comfort.

Alexis sneered, "She was okay with being daddy's little bitch weren't you hermit?" she glared at Brittany with a knowing smirk, Brittany's eyes widened as Alison looked between the two of them, trying to figure out what was going on. "The guards talk."

"Britt…what's she talking about?" Alison asked her friend as she saw tears pooling in Brittany's eyes.

"You wanna tell her hermie or should I?" Alexis butted in, not taking her eyes of Brittany, enjoying watching her squirm.

Brittany tightened her hold on Alison's hand. "Sh..she's talking about my dad. He used to…hurt me, when I was younger."

When she heard this revelation, she spun around to glare at Alexis. "And you think that's funny?!" She shouted in the taller woman's face. At this point, everyone else who had been observing and begun to laugh.

"I'm just saying girlie, it's not like being somebody's bitch is anything new for her."

She snapped.

Alison brought a hand up to curl into a fist and was just about to punch this sick bitch in the face when she felt two small hands grab her wrist and pull her back.

"Ali don't," She heard Brittany say behind her. "She'll pummel you." She brought her hand down at Brittany's words and turned back to face Alexis, Brittany moving to stand next to her.

"Good choice Blondie." The older woman sneered before bringing her hand back and punching it forward. Alison waited for the point of impact and the throbbing pain but it never came, instead she turned to see Brittany lying on the floor motionless.

Completely disregarding Alexis, Alison turned around and knelt beside Brittany, shaking her friend gently in an attempt to wake her up but Brittany was out cold. Alison turned around, ready to pounce on the woman but just as she was about to, a loud banging caught all their attention.

"Alright!" A guard yelled as he entered the shower area with his black baton, which he had banged on a sink to get their attention. "Shower time's over ladies, back to your cells." he commanded. All the bystanders turned away and began to disperse, the guard walked over to where Alison, Brittany and Alexis were. "What's all this then?" he asked motioning to Brittany, who was still unconscious.

Just as Alison opened her mouth to answer, Alexis beat her to it.

"She fell sir, I've always thought she should crawl because she clearly can't stand on two feet."

Alison turned to give her a death stare but didn't say anything, she knew that if she told the guard what had really happened, it would only be worse for her and Brittany when there weren't any guards around.

"Alright, well she will be fine. DiLaurentis, carry her back to your cell. Come on." the guard ordered sternly. Alison rolled her eyes but scooped the still unconscious Brittany into her arms and began walking towards the hallway where there cell was. She was alarmed by how light her friend was, it was almost like she was carrying a newborn baby.

She stepped into their cell and ignored the sound of the cell bars closing behind them, laying Brittany down on her bunk for now, seeing as there was no way she could put her friend in her own since it was the top one, and walked over to the small sink in the corner, picking up the white cloth that was hanging over the tap and wetting it before ringing it out. She walked back over to Brittany and placed the cloth on her forehead, before turning and sitting on the hard, plastic chair next to the table.

She played with her fingers for several minutes before looking towards the table. It had her box, containing her hygiene products and copy of Great Expectations that her dad had brought for her, Brittany's and Brittany's novels on it. She reached over and picked up the two books her friend had and looked at the titles; 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' and 'Divergent'.

She smiled to herself before putting the books back on the table and something else caught her eye, Brittany's sketchbook. She had always wondered what her friend would draw when she was sitting in this cell waiting for meals or showers. Curiosity got the better of her and she picked it up, resting in on her lap and opening it.

The first few pages were various landscapes, Alison wondered if Brittany had drawn these from memory or made them up, there were several different drawings of Brittany's mother, who Alison recognized from the first drawing of Brittany's she had seen when she first moved into this cell.

In each one, Brittany's mother looked happy, she was always surrounded with flowers and a small swing in the background, Alison smiled softly at how Brittany had taken special care to capture the light in her eyes. The next ten or so pages were of various animals; horses, dolphins, cats. With each drawing, Alison was amazed with her friend's talent and attention to detail. After a few pages of comic characters, some Alison recognized and others she had never seen before, she came to a blank page. She guessed that was the end of Brittany's sketches so far and went to close the book and put it back down before something in the corner of the book caught her attention.

A page was sticking out, clearly having being detached from the rest. She could only see a corner but she could see that it was coloured blue, like a sky. She pulled it out from the back of the book and studied it.

It was a girl, a young girl with blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and ice blue eyes. She had a heart shaped face and plump lips and was wearing a broad smile. A white, floral printed dress with pink flowers on it showed her curves perfectly and came to her knees. From what she could see, the girl was standing in a daisy field. Alison recognized herself instantly. She smiled wider and hugged the drawing to her chest before looking back down and wiping a tear from her eye. She turned it over to see curvy, slanted writing that she assumed was Brittany's.

_'My First Friend, Alison DiLaurentis' _

-x-

About half an hour later, Brittany awoke with a pounding headache and the right side of her face was sore. She groaned as she sat up slowly, clutching her head. She turned to see Alison kneeling by her bedside, the blonde gently placed a hand on Brittany's shoulder and pushed her back down on the bed.

"Easy, don't want to make yourself dizzy." Alison said in her most soothing voice as she picked up the cloth that had fallen off Brittany's forehead and placed it back on, stroking her friend's cheek softly.

"Wh-what happened?" she asked wearily, still trying to make sense of how she got here.

"Alexis knocked you out cold, you've been out for almost an hour. I would've knocked her teeth out but a guard showed up."

"What?" she said panicky. "Did she hurt you?" she quickly asked, attempting to sit up again but found Alison's hand holding her down.

"Shhhh," Alison soothed. "No she didn't hurt me, the guard showed up before she had a chance. While you were out, the doctor came and fixed your side too." Sure enough, when she pulled up her shirt, she saw a bandage wrapping around her torso.

"This is only going to make it worse." she muttered darkly. "Now that they know about my dad, they're going to take advantage of it."

"I won't let that happen." Alison promised firmly. "If they want to get to you, they're going to have to get through me."

"And what makes you think they won't?"

"I don't care!"

Brittany flinched slightly when Alison raised her voice. The blonde sighed, realising her mistake and patted Brittany's shoulder gently in a silent apology. "It's almost dinner time," she said quietly. "I'll bring you back some okay?"

"No."

Alison raised her eyebrows, confused at Brittany's comment. "What?"

"I'll come with you."

"Are you sure?" Alison wondered what had given Brittany the courage to come with her to dinner all of a sudden and was worried that her friend would be targeted again so soon after being knocked out cold.

"Annoying Alexis is one way to ensure a beating. You're going to need someone to watch your back."

Alison nodded, holding her hand out for Brittany to take to help her friend to her feet before the guards came around and unlocked the cells announcing that it was time for dinner.

-x-

Alison placed her tray on the table before taking a seat, Brittany was still standing in the line waiting for hers, Alison had promised to save her a seat. She glanced down at tonight's meal, it was some form of pasta but Alison thought it looked like cat's vomit. She picked up her plastic fork and began picking at it with a look of disgust on her face. She heard the scaping of a chair and looked up, expecting to see Brittany, but instead seeing Alexis, flanked by at least four other women.

"I thought we needed to have a chat Blondie." Alexis said far too sweetly to be sincere. "You need to get how things are run around here. When I tell you to do something, you do it. You don't talk back to me and you don't ever get in my face. Understand?"

Alison looked Alexis straight in the eye, giving her a small smirk. "Go away. I won't bow down to you and I certainly won't let you continue hurting my friend."

Alexis laughed, causing the other inmates sitting at nearby tables to turn to look at them. "I can do what I want, and you ain't gonna stop me."

"You're lucky that guard showed up or I would've knocked your lights out for what you did to her. You're not scary, compared to some of the people I've met, you're as harmless as a baby."

Alexis' face darkened and Alison could wear she could steam coming out of her ears. "I'd watch your mouth if I were you Blondie."

"What are you going to do? Sit on me?"

That had done it, Alexis lunged across the table at Alison but she was ready, she slid her chair out of the way and Alexis hit the floor face first. Alison jumped to her feet and brought her fists up ready. Alexis' 'cronies' as Brittany had dubbed them, jumped over the table and made a dash at Alison but they were knocked off their feet by some large, dark woman that Alison didn't recognise.

The next thing anyone knew, chaos had erupted. There were people fighting everywhere you turned. It was like a bar fight, everyone was fighting everyone else. In one corner, the woman who had come to Alison's aid was throwing one of Alexis' followers into the brick wall. In another, three older inmates were scratching, kicking and pulling on another's hair, and in the centre of the room, everybody else was either on the ground or on top of somebody else, beating them into a pulp.

Brittany stood by the door, eyes scanning for Alison. She had seen this too many times before, and she knew that the best way to avoid getting involved was to lay low and try to escape before anybody noticed you were there, and normally that's what she would do. This time though, she couldn't, not until she found Alison and got her out as well.

She finally found her, Alison was underneath Alexis, who was punching her in the face over and over again. Alison's nose was bleeding and she was defenceless as Alexis sat on top of her.

In that instant, Brittany was reminded of her mother, and how she felt watching that animal try and force himself on her. She had known then that if she did something, she would either get hurt or killed, and she was okay with that because she loved her mother. She knew what she was risking when she had saved her mother and she did it anyway, because she had always put people before herself, and she wasn't about to let that bastard hurt somebody she loved.

It was the same now, she loved Alison like a sister, and she knew what she would risk if she tried to help her friend. She had been beaten, abused and humiliated during her time in prison and she knew that she would endure it again if she helped Alison. So she had two choices right now: Make herself scarce and protect herself, like she had done so many times before and leave Alison to fend for herself, or help her friend and potentially risk being destroyed or worse.

For Brittany Lawson, the girl who had always put the needs of others before her own and who would go to the ends of the earth to protect those she loved, the choice was easy.

-x-

Alison's eyesight was going blurry as punch after punch hit her face, she could see Alexis' face lighting up with glee with every punch. She tried to bring her hands up to protect her face but it was no use, Alexis would just force them out of the way. Every part of her body hurt, she was sure that she would have a nice collection of bruises in the morning as well as maybe a dislocation in her arm.

Alexis brought her arm back to deliver a huge blow but before she could connect, a blur of orange slammed into her, tackling her and bringing an arm up to hit Alexis over the head with the tray they used for their food, knocking her out.

Alison sat up, clutching her shoulder and massaging it before turning to look at Alexis and whoever had attacked her, and was shocked to see Brittany standing over the unconscious woman, still holding the tray.

The dining hall had fallen silent, everyone had turned to stare at the scene before them, mouths open and eyes wide with shock.

Just then, footsteps could be heard as no less than ten guards entered the room, two of them walked over to where Brittany was standing, still clutching the tray, and grabbed her roughly before spinning her around and handcuffing her hands behind her back.

"You've just earned yourself a trip to solitary Lawson." one of the guards snarled as he locked the cuffs.

"Britt, no!" Alison yelled as Brittany turned her head to look at her friend.

"I'll be okay." She said quickly before being turned around again and forced to walk forward.

Alison watched in horror as her friend was led out of the door and out of sight, trying her best to stop the tears from cascading down her cheeks.

-x-

**Brittany's in solitary :( Let's keep our fingers crossed that she will be alright in there! What will Alison do now? Can she get Brittany out so her friend doesn't spend her 18th birthday in solitary? Stay tuned to find out! PLEASE LEAVE ME LOTS OF REVIEWS! Hope you enjoyed this chapter :) **

**Chapter 6 Synopsis: **

**With Brittany in solitary, Alison must face the wrath of their new enemies alone. Knowing that the other inmates are out to hurt her, she begs Toby for help in getting Brittany released from solitary and learns that her friend has been helping him find evidence to clear her name.**


	8. Guessing game Spoilers!

**Hello! **

**So Brittany is in solitary for defending Alison :( Poor girl, how corrupt is the system for throwing her in there but letting Alexis off! **

**So I said I wasn't giving any more synopsis' out and I'm not. This is something different. I'm going to give you guys a little sneak peak of the next chapter: "I can't do this alone"**

**-x-**

"She won't survive in there."

"Tell me something I don't already know." Alison said darkly as she paced around the cell restlessly.

"Solitary Confinement is designed to break the will of prisoners." He explained sadly, "They send you there to crush your spirits."

"She's already had her will broken!" Alison yelled as tears streamed down her face. "She's already had everything possible happen to her in here! She's already suffered enough to break her! She was just protecting me!"

"I understand that, but..."

"But nothing!" Alison cut him off loudly, "She shouldn't be there. The fact that she's in there while that psychotic bitch is still walking around like she owns the place makes me sick! There has to be some way to get her out!"

He seemed to think about this for a moment before responding.

"Well, there might be one way..."

**Who do you think Alison is talking to? What do you think is the 'one way' to get Brittany out of solitary? What's going to happen to Alison now that Brittany is locked away? What's going to happen to Brittany now that Brittany's locked away? Leave me your thoughts in a review or PM! The person who gets the closest to the answer will get a surprise :) **


	9. This is the last one of these, I promise

**The next chapter will be up within the next day or so, but I thought I'd give you some script teasers because you've all been so amazingly supportive. These are not in the same scene, they are different lines from different parts of the chapter. This is the last non-chapter I'll be posting for a while so everything after this will be strictly chapters :) **

**Chapter 6: "I Can't Do This Alone"**

**Alison:**

"I didn't say it was fair, Em."

**Emily:**

"Everyday without fail. Mostly just mocking us for how stupid we were, as if we didn't feel bad enough already."

**Toby:**

"I don't think she even realised I was there."

**Alison: **

"She was just protecting me! How could you be so cruel!?"

**Alexis:**

"Ready or not, here I come!"

**Chapter 7: "Only The Strong Will Survive" **

**Brittany: **

"Are you questioning me or looking for a confession?"

**Alison:**

"If she does this, she's going back to solitary...or worse."

**Brittany: **

"We both know there were corrupt cops in Rosewood, who's to say that it stopped when you arrived?"

**Emily: **

"She's not the same anymore."

**Brittany: **

"This isn't just detention anymore. This is war."

**Chapter 8: "All Is Fair" **

**Alison:**

"What happened to you while you were in there?"

**Brittany: **

"If I ever get out of here alive, remind me to sue."

**Toby: **

"Emily said I should talk to you again, so here I am."

**Tanner: **

"You are at no liberty to accuse me of anything, Miss Lawson."

**Spencer: **

"You need to get her to talk, Toby really needs this."

**Chapter 9: "When Things Get Bad"**

**Brittany:**

"Hey, don't look at me, my back was turned for a reason."

**Brittany: **

"I believe the phrase rhymes with 'clucking bell'."

**Alison: **

"There's no such thing as rights in here is there?"

**Emily:**

"You know Ali needs you, right? She needs you now more than ever?"

**Brittany:**

"I don't want to live in fear anymore."

**Alison: **

"If -A is expecting me to do that, then the bitch can just take that $500 and shove it."

**So there you have it guys. From now on if I'm giving sneak peeks or scripts like this I'll include them at the end of each chapter. There's some things to look forward too, including Brittany's new attitude :) I'll see you all soon with chapter 6 and please leave me a review to let me know how the story's going so far. **


	10. I Can't Do This Alone

**With Brittany in solitary, Alison must face the wrath of their new enemies alone. Knowing that the other inmates are out to hurt her, she begs Toby for help in getting Brittany released from solitary and learns that her friend has been helping him find evidence to clear her name.**

-x-

"She WHAT?!"

Emily's outburst had everyone else in the visiting room turning to stare at her and Alison. Brittany had been locked in solitary for 18 hours so far and Emily had come to visit both of them, only to find a distressed Alison and discover that Brittany had been sent to solitary.

"Em shhh," Alison hissed urgently, she hadn't been expecting that reaction from the usually timid brunette. "Don't make a scene, it won't help any of us." she cautioned quietly. Emily's face had turned a delicate shade of scarlet and she looked like she would like nothing more than to take the baton of the guards who had taken Brittany, and shove them where there sun didn't shine.

"Why?" she managed to growl through gritted teeth while glaring at the guard in the corner of the room, she had no proof he was involved, but he was wearing the uniform, that was good enough for her right now.

"A fight broke out in the dining hall. Everyone was attacking everyone," Alison motioned to her face, where she now sported a black eye and a cut lip. "I was trapped under a human death star who was punching me over and over again," Emily's face grew a darker shade of red than before at these words, "Brittany tackled her off me and knocked her out with a tray."

"After being knocked out the same day by that same person? How is Brittany locked up and she isn't?!" Emily whisper-yelled, Alison's Star Wars reference flying right over her head due to the anger she felt.

"I didn't say it was fair, Em."

Emily made a noise in the back of her throat that sounded like a cross between a growl and a whimper. "Do you know how long she'll be there?"

Alison shook her head. "It's her birthday on Saturday, unless someone gets her out, she's going to spend it in Solitary Confinement." Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of her friend spending her milestone 18th birthday in solitary, it was bad enough she'd be spending it in jail.

"That won't happen."

Alison raised her eyebrows at Emily, taken back by the brunette's forceful tone and determined gaze. "What do you mean?"

"I'll talk to Toby and Mrs Hastings and find out a way to get her out, there has to be some rule against this given the circumstances."

Alison smiled softly, "I'd appreciate that, Em."

Emily nodded slowly, "I know she's the only company you have Ali, the girls and I are working to get you both out of here."

"Have you heard anything from -A?" She was afraid of the answer, but she had to ask.

Emily nodded again, "Everyday without fail. Mostly just mocking us for how stupid we were, as if we didn't feel bad enough already."

Alison nodded. "Anything else?"

Emily bit her lip and looked down at her feet, turning shy all of a sudden. Alison leaned forward to try and get in Emily's line of sight.

"Em?"

"-A is going after Hanna and trying to frame her as your 'accomplice'." Emily responded hesitantly, finally looking up to see Alison's blue eyes laced with concern.

Alison sighed and sat back. "Is it not bad enough that -A is out to torture us and kill our relatives? They have to throw us in jail now too?"

Emily opened her mouth to respond but was silenced by the guard in the corner of the room, telling them their visit time was over and that Emily had to leave.

Emily's face fell. She desperately wanted to reach out and hold Alison's cuffed hands, but knew it wasn't allowed so instead settled on bringing her chocolate brown eyes to meet Alison's ice blue ones and give her a small smile.

"I'll be back tomorrow okay? I'll talk to Toby and Mrs Hastings and get Brittany out." She promised, Alison nodded and Emily stood up, giving Alison one last glance over her shoulder before leaving the room while Alison waited for her handcuffs to be released from the table so she could return to her cell.

-x-

Alison turned over in her bed and tried to get comfortable after hours of tossing and turning. She couldn't sleep, her mind was on overdrive worrying about Brittany. It was almost 24 hours into Brittany's stay in solitary, and Alison's concern, for how her friend would be coping in isolation along with the possibility of the guards abusing her friend, was only increasing as each hour ticked over.

She could only pray that Toby, Emily and Mrs Hastings could find some ground to have Brittany released before Brittany's birthday, or before her friend lost her mind, whichever came first.

The only feeling that could come close to comparing with her concern for Brittany was her rage at Alexis, and the guards, for that matter, for the double standard towards her friend, locking Brittany up while Alexis still roamed free. Well, as free as she could in prison. She was hoping that maybe Mrs Hastings could use this to get Brittany out, but she knew better than to hold her breath about anything.

She had made Brittany's bed, partly so that when she came back she could sleep in a made bed but also because she was simply missing her friend. She had also begun reading Brittany's copy of 'Divergent' and could see why her friend found it so interesting. Though both of these things made her miss her friend dearly, it also helped Alison feel close to her in her absence.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of her cell opening and the guards yelling that it was dinner time, as well as issuing a warning that anybody who decided to start another brawl would find themselves in solitary. Alison was infuriated when the guard added 'like Lawson' but decided to bite her tongue, getting herself sent to The Hole as well wouldn't do her or Brittany any favours.

She rose to her feet, nonetheless, and made her way slowly to the dining hall. When she got there, she quickly got her tray and took a seat as far away from everyone else as possible. She tried to eat fast and get away before Alexis and her 'cronies' showed up, not because she was afraid of her, but more because she was afraid of what she'd do to Alexis for what happened to Brittany. She knew it wouldn't help either of them if she got herself locked up as well.

No such luck.

No sooner had Alison finished her meal, Alexis had arrived in the dining hall, caught sight of Alison, and was now making her way over to where the blonde was seated. Alison tucked both her hands into the pockets of her jumpsuit and fisted the inside in an attempt to stop herself from decking the woman. Alexis slid into the seat opposite Alison with a self-satisfied smirk on her face, but also a black eye and an egg-shaped lump on her forehead.

Alison suddenly felt immensely proud of Brittany.

"What you gonna do without your pet, blondie?" Alexis said gleefully. Alison's anger increased tenfold at her tone.

"Don't talk about her like that." Alison warned darkly, tightening her fists in her pockets.

"Caged up like one at the moment ain't she?" Alexis laughed.

"That should be you, though with any luck they'd put you down like the animal you are." Alison said, snarling.

Alexis looked taken back for just a moment before recovering with "How's your face feeling barbie?"

Alison shrugged, "It's healing, at least I don't have to wait for my damaged pride to heal after being dropped on my ass by a 17 year old."

The older woman's face flashed with pure anger for just a second before she leant in so her face was inches from Alison's before snarling, "If the guards weren't here, I'd knock all of your teeth out Blondie. When your friend is out, there's nowhere you will be able to hide from me, you can run, but you'll still hear me say 'Ready or not, here I come'."

With that, Alison abruptly stood, picking up her tray to discard her rubbish, and left Alexis sitting at the table, slightly flabbergasted at her threat being ignored.

As she turned to leave, she noticed a guard standing by the door. She recognised him as one of the guards who had taken Brittany away and locked her up. Without thinking of the consequences, she stormed up to him.

"She was just protecting me! How could you be so cruel?!" She yelled in his face.

The guard shrugged, completely unfazed, "Rules are rules. And if you speak like that to me again you'll join her." he warned before motioning for her to keep walking. Though seething, Alison obeyed.

-x-

Early the next morning, Alison was woken by her cell opening and footsteps entering the claustrophobic space, she raised her head off the pillow and was shocked to see who was standing there.

"Toby? What are you doing here?" She asked as she sat up and backed up to lean against the wall, curiosity lacing her voice.

"Emily told me what happened, Mrs Hastings is working on getting Brittany out. We just went to see her becau-"

"And?! How is she? Is she okay? Is she hurt?" Alison interrupted hastily, desperate for any news on Brittany's condition.

Toby looked down at his feet sadly, "I don't think she even realised I was there. She was staring at the ceiling mumbling to herself, she didn't even acknowledge that we were there, or if she did, she thought we were a hallucination."

Alison's heart broke at this news. She felt so hopeless, there wasn't anything she could do to help Brittany right now and that thought crushed her. She stood and began to walk around the cell in agitation.

"She won't survive in there."

"Tell me something I don't already know." Alison said darkly as she paced around the cell restlessly.

"Solitary Confinement is designed to break the will of prisoners." He explained sadly, "They send you there to crush your spirits."

"She's already had her will broken!" Alison yelled as tears streamed down her face. "She's already had everything possible happen to her in here! She's already suffered enough to break her! She was just protecting me!"

"I understand that, but..."

"But nothing!" Alison cut him off loudly, "She shouldn't be there. The fact that she's in there while that psychotic bitch is still walking around like she owns the place makes me sick! There has to be some way to get her out!"

He seemed to think about this for a moment before responding.

"Well, there might be one way..."

Alison let out a gasp of air before walking over to where Toby was sitting on the plastic chair in the corner and knelt down in front of him, "Name it."

Toby nodded, "Brittany is still 17. She's still legally a minor, Mrs Hastings is going to try and appeal that she has been put in solitary on unfair ground considering she didn't start the dining hall fight, and that since Brittany is a minor, this is illegal since she wasn't really at fault. But she will need a witness to say that Brittany didn't start the fight. That's what we need you for."

Alison nodded enthusiastically, she was going to get Brittany out. "You got it."

-x-

**Brittany's already going mad in solitary :( Don't worry guys, she'll be back next chapter, I missed her too. This is going to be the start of seeing a different side of Brittany. When she finally gets out, she's not going to be the same, but that doesn't mean in a bad way, maybe it's a good thing. All the pieces will start to fall in place next chapter, I promise. What's Brittany got on Tanner that she's going to use to outsmart her? Will Alison let Brittany take the fall for something she did? Who's going to visit Alison and what the hell is going on with Brittany and Wilden? All these answers nest chapter! Please leave me reviews and feedback. **

**Chapter 7 Synopsis: **

**Suspecting that Tanner knows more about her problems with Wilden than she is letting on, Brittany attempts to bait her into revealing what she knows. Alison suspects her friend is preparing to take the fall for an incident Alison caused in the shower room, Brittany's sketchbook reveals some answers about her friend's paranoia and Alison gets an unwelcome visitor.**

**Sneak Peek:**

"You're an idiot. You know that?" Alison told her friend sternly even as she hugged her tightly, taking comfort in the knowledge that Brittany was safely by her side again.

Brittany returned the gesture just as tightly, tears falling from her eyes, she was just so happy to be out of that awful hole.

"Come on, you look like you could use some rest." Alison whispered, pulling away after several minutes of embracing. She took Brittany's hand and led her to the bed, urging her friend to lay down. Brittany did so, and gently tugged on Alison's hand to bring the blonde down to lay next to her, immediately snuggling into her side once Alison had gotten comfortable.

The rain continued to bat the barred windows and the occasional rumbling of distant thunder made it difficult to sleep, even though Brittany hadn't slept for the last three days due to the lights in solitary never being turned off.

A flash of lightning filled the otherwise dark cell in light, causing Brittany to jump up, her breathing rapid and uneven as she pointed to the corner of the room in a panic.

"Britt? What is it?" Alison asked confused as she followed Brittany's hand to see where she was pointing, only to find her pointing at an empty corner.

"Stop! Stop! Don't let him near me!" Brittany wailed as she buried her face in the crook of Alison's neck and gripped onto the blonde's shirt so tightly, her knuckles were turning white.

"There's nothing there Britt." Alison whispered soothingly, stroking her friends hair gently, coaxing her back into lying down.

_'What the hell have they done to her_?' She thought


	11. Please read!

**A/N: **

**Hey Guys!**

**So I'm booked in for an extended stay in hospital since they need to make sure my new heart is working okay and for recovery. I'm given 2 hours a day to write so that's what I've been doing. Chapter 7 is coming along very nicely and I really think it brings together where I'm going with this story :) But, because I love you all and am very grateful for the ongoing support, here is a basic rundown of some upcoming chapters, with various bits and pieces. **

**ALSO, I'm very interested to hear your theories on what is going to happen in this story so PLEASE leave me some reviews of what you think is going on with Brittany and Wilden, what our favourite 17 year old is going to use on Tanner, what is being done to Brittany in solitary, and who do you think will be Chester's new inmate (I'll give you a hint on that last one; it won't be Hanna) so, PLEASE, make my stay here less miserable and leave me some reviews with your theories :) **

**Enjoy! **

**Chapter 7: 'All Is Fair' Sneak Peek**

Several hours later, she tossed and turned on the stainless steel slab with a pillow that somehow was able to be called a 'bed'. It was driving her insane. She hadn't slept since she had been brought here, mostly due to the fact that the cell lights in solitary were never turned off, but also because of the incredible discomfort that came from sleeping on a block of metal.

She hoped, with every cell in her body, that Alison had managed to stay out of trouble while she had been here. She would hate if her sacrifice had been for nothing. Not that she considered herself a hero or anything, but she knew exactly what would happen if she struck Alexis and she had done it anyway. She knew she would end up in here, and she knew that the unfriendly guards who watched these cells, would feast on the fresh meat like a pack of hungry hyenas.

It was worth it though, she concluded. Alison hadn't been in here for very long, she was still full of hope and hadn't had all the life sucked out of her. Being in here would have destroyed any last ray of positivity her friend had left, and she wasn't about to let that happen. She would rather serve a life sentence in solitary than have Alison become like her, broken.

She had no regrets for what she'd done, Alexis deserved it and worse for everything she'd done to the other inmates. Brittany had watched for months as Alexis took advantage of so many new prisoners, who were too terrified and intimidated to do anything about it. She'd watched those prisoners become damaged, broken and in some cases, psychotic, as a result. She'd been through it herself; she closed her eyes as she remembered her first run-in with Alexis.

**Script Teasers: **

**Brittany: **

"I did it for you and I would do it again, you will not have to experience that place."

**Tanner:**

"Miss Lawson, are you aware that I'm speaking to you?"

**Alison: **

"Brittany's very loyal, that's why she's in solitary in the first place."

**Emily: **

"Let's hope Tanner hasn't already broken her."

**?: **

"Oh, Alison. Don't you see? It's already over."

**Spoilers/Notes: **

- There will be a Brittany flashback.

- There is a kiss.

- The Brittany/Wilden mystery will be solved.

- There is a break-up.

- An alliance begins.

**Chapter 8: 'Only The Strong Will Survive' Sneak Peek**

"So now we're up against the entire cell block?! Get fu-"

"Brittany Jade Lawson!" Alison cut her friend off before she had the chance to finish her outburst. Brittany threw her hands up defensively but kept the scowl on her face and furious glare in her eyes.

"Really come out of your shell lately, haven't you kid?" Stephanie said proudly.

Brittany gave her a small smile, "Thanks, but can we stay focused on the present please? Like the fact there is five of us and like a hundred of them and how totally screwed we are?"

"Maybe now, but we can change that." Martha said quickly.

The other four all turned to gaze at her questioningly. "How?" Alison asked.

Martha shrugged, "Most of them will side with the highest bidder. We can either convince them that they're with the losing side, or bribe them."

Alison raised her eyebrows, "How would we bribe them? We're in prison."

Martha looked from Alison over to Brittany, who shifted her eyes uncomfortably at the sight of Martha's smirk that told everyone that she had a plan.

"What?" Brittany asked nervously.

**Script Teasers: **

**Alison: **

"I said it many years ago, and I'll say it again. You think you know people, and then they surprise you."

**Brittany:**

"That is, by far, the most messed up thing I've ever seen. And my stepdad worked at a slaughterhouse!"

**Martha:**

"I think the kid had the right idea yesterday."

**Emily:**

"You could slice through the tension in this room with a butter knife!"

**Brittany & Alison:**

"No, but I know how to swear in 8 different languages if that's any help?"

"Of course you do."

**Spoilers/Notes: **

- There will be a scene with Brittany, Alison and Emily all together.

- Someone is left in a coma after a riot.

- Brittany and Alison set a trap for Alexis.

- There is a Brittany flashback and an Alison flashback.

- There is an attempted breakout.

**Chapter 9: 'When Things Get Bad' Sneak Peek**

Emily followed the guard into the ward, several paces behind him. She was almost concerned that if she stepped too close, he would know that Ali, Brittany and their allies had a plan. Though, given recent developments, she wasn't sure wether that plan would be going ahead anymore. This certainly wasn't part of it.

The guard unlocked the door and stepped aside, allowing Emily to enter the darkened room, before closing and locking the door and leaving. Once he had gone, she turned to the bed against the far wall to see Brittany, broken and bruised, lying there, apparently asleep.

She walked over to stand by the youngster's side, taking one of her fragile hands in-between both of hers, the one that hadn't been handcuffed to the bed, causing Brittany to stir and open her eyes, revealing they were bloodshot and distant.

Emily gently rubbed her thumb over Brittany's hand, feeling a tear sliding down her cheek but not wanting to detach their hands to wipe it, so she just let it roll off her chin.

"Why?" She asked of the youngster in a small, broken voice through glassy eyes.

"Look at me." Brittany responded in a whisper, "I'm a shell of a person now, I wasn't about to let our Ali share my fate."

**Script Teasers: **

**Emily:**

"If she dies, and Ali loses her, I'll never forgive myself if we don't do anything."

**Brittany:**

"As long as you are okay, I'll be fine."

**Alison: **

"What do you want from me? To plead guilty? I'll do it. "To confess to everything I've ever done? Done. Just tell me what I need to do."

**Brittany: **

"In life or death, I'll always be with you."

**A:**

_'Ali, Ali, not-so-free. If you want to save her, you have to do something for me.' _

**Spoilers/Notes:**

- There is a heartbreaking scene involving Brittany.

- Holbrook makes an appearance.

- We will see Brittany's brother, Ben, for the first time.

- Alison and Jason have a scene together.

- Alison will be allowed to see Brittany in intensive care, but she will have to fight for it.

**A/N: So there you are! Leave me your theories about what you think is going to happen. Please? **

**Thanks again and love you all xoxo **


	12. All Is Fair

**Suspecting that Tanner knows more about her problems with Wilden than she is letting on, Brittany attempts to bait her into revealing what she knows. Alison suspects her friend is preparing to take the fall for an incident Alison caused in the shower room, Brittany's sketchbook reveals some answers about her friend's paranoia and Alison gets an unwelcome visitor.**

-x-

Brittany brought her head down so she could run a shackled hand, attached to a table, through her unwashed, un-brushed hair. She hadn't slept for three days and it was clear in her face that she was exhausted. Her eyes had very defined dark circles surrounding them, they were bloodshot and seemed to be struggling to stay open. Her porcelain skin was even more pale than usual and anyone could swear she had lost about 20lbs since being in solitary. She lifted her head to once again stare at the person across from her.

"I thought you'd want to help yourself out."

She had to keep it together, regardless of what her eyes were trying to tell her, there was only one other person in the room and they were seated directly opposite her. There was nobody else in the room; no axe murderers standing in the corner, no T-rex's about to crash through the wall. She was fine, she had to ignore these hallucinations and focus.

"Not by being dishonest Lieutenant. There are some of us who actually try to be above lying to save our ass, or in your case, earn a promotion."

"Like Alison DiLaurentis? The amount of lies that girl has told could fill a novel."

Brittany ignored the fact that the room was spinning and everything was black and white and tried to look Tanner in the eye. "This has nothing to do with her and you know it."

"Do I?" Tanner responded smugly, she knew Brittany was tripping and was trying to take full advantage of it, not realising that the inmate already had her pinned.

Brittany sat back in her seat and tried her best to resist yawning. "A blonde killed him, you have witnesses who have said that. Seeing as I'm not blonde and I was in here, serving my sentence, clearly I didn't do it. Alison wasn't in Rosewood, so that rules both of us out. So why are you still here?" She didn't have anything to lose, so she didn't care what she said or how it came across.

"Darren Wilden was killed while you were incarcerated, this is true. So you couldn't have been the one to pull the trigger, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of you knowing about the plan to murder him _or _even having someone on the outside do it for you. Detective Wilden is the one who arrested you and is the reason you are in here, what better way to get revenge than have him killed?"

Brittany tried to ignore blurriness that had now obstructed her vision. "Are you questioning me or looking for a confession? Sorry to disappoint, but I had nothing to do with his death, and I'm happy to submit to a polygraph to prove it," Tanner opened her mouth to retort, but Brittany wasn't done. "You had CeCe Drake in custody, and then she escaped, and you have made no effort to try and find her before moving onto the next suspect. You have witnesses that say they saw CeCe Drake with Wilden that night! And she somehow managed to escape whilst being handcuffed, and in the back of a police car!"

Tanner, who looked like she had just taken a slap to the face, recovered quickly and tried to give Brittany her most intimidating stare, only to come up short seeing as Brittany wasn't phased in the slightest. "What are you trying to say, Miss Lawson?"

Brittany shrugged, "We both know there were corrupt cops in Rosewood, who's to say that it stopped when you arrived? Maybe someone on the inside set CeCe Drake free, in order to frame someone else for the murder, or maybe use it as leverage." Again, Tanner went to speak, and again, Brittany cut her off. "What's this really about, Lieutenant? Because it seems to me like you're here to try and intimidate me by threatening to charge me with some bizarre involvement in his death. So I ask you now; is this about me and my case, or trying to cover up your royal screw-up in regards to the Vanderwaal murder case?"

Tanner looked like she would have liked nothing better than to take the handcuffs clasped to Brittany's wrists and strangle her with them. Though neither said it, they both knew the youngster had won this round.

-x-

"We may have something, Alison." Veronica Hastings told the blonde as she entered the private visitors room and took a seat across from her, Toby and Emily.

Alison nodded, "I'm listening."

"Since Brittany was sent to solitary, Tanner has been interrogating her relentlessly," Emily said coldly, the brunette's disapproval evident in her voice. " Since Brittany is still 17 and a minor, there has been no guardian present, so whatever Tanner is trying to get out of her is useless anyway since it can't be used in a court of law."

"Brittany doesn't have any guardians but," Alison pointed out, "Her mother's dead and her father abused her and took off," she tried to suppress the anger at the thought of Brittany being interrogated by Tanner in solitary. "What does Tanner want from her anyway?"

"We don't know, but whatever it is, it seems Tanner is desperate, which leads me to think it's something illegal that Tanner is involved in that Brittany knows about." Mrs Hastings responded.

Alison shifted in her chair slightly, stunned. Tanner wanted something from Brittany, but what could her friend know that wou- "The cop!" she suddenly yelled, realisation hitting her.

Emily's eyes widened, "The one that rigged her trial?" Alison nodded. "Do we think that was Tanner?"

"No, she said it was a 'he'" Alison shook her head, "but maybe Tanner knows something about it and wants Brittany to keep quiet or something."

"No."

Everyone turned their heads to stare at Toby, who up until now, had been silent. He had a look of disgust on her face and when he spoke, his every word was spat out in revulsion.

"Tanner is threatening her because she's trying to save her job."

Alison turned to Emily, and was sure the look of confusion on the brunette's face was identical to hers.

"What do you mean Toby?" Mrs Hastings asked seriously.

Toby rotated the pen in his hands over and over as he stared at the table. "Tanner arrested Alison and is certain that she's the one who killed Mona, but imagine how bad it would look for Tanner if Alison is proved innocent and her entire theory is proved false."

The three women all shared looks of confusion and in Emily's case, irritation.

"So what does this have to do with Brittany Lawson?" Mrs Hastings pushed.

"She's been helping me." Toby responded, "I've been meeting with her daily and we have been working together to find a way to prove Alison's innocence. Tanner is threatening her with, god only knows what, to try and shut her up and make sure Brittany doesn't cost Tanner her job by proving Alison innocent."

Alison's head reeled from the new revelation. _What?! Toby was the cop Brittany had been seeing? It wasn't about her case, it was about Alison's?! _"But how has Brittany been helping you? She's in prison just like me."

"She's smarter than Spencer is, Alison." Toby answered confidently. Mrs Hastings shot him a look, which he completely ignored. "I've been bringing her bits and pieces and she's been helping me solve them."

"Toby," Mrs Hastings butted in, "Talking about an open case and evidence with someone like Brittany, who isn't a lawyer or a police officer, is illegal, not to mention extremely dangerous. You could lose your job."

"Who says I've been talking to her about an open case?" Toby responded with a small smirk, "If I ask her questions hypothetically, or in riddles, then _technically _I'm not actually breaking any rules." He glanced over at Mrs Hastings, who now was looking mildly impressed. "I've been asking her hypothetical questions, trying to make it appear as though they are in relation to her own case rather than Alison's, and she's been answering them and helping me figure out what's going on."

Alison's mouth hung open, she saw Emily and Mrs Hastings doing the same out of the corner of her eye. "H-How?"

"Example, the video of the blonde woman in the black hoodie attacking Mona. I asked Brittany if her step-father had a camera hidden somewhere to record the events, if, hypothetically, she knew it was there or had suspicions due to his past actions, if she was trying to conceal her appearance, why leave her hair out like that? And she answered that she would only do that if she was wearing a wig that was similar to the hairstyle of the person she was trying to frame."

Alison was pretty sure her jaw was on the floor by this point.

"This," Toby continued, "was her telling me that she believes that Mona's killer was wearing a wig similar to Alison's hairstyle, knowing or thinking it was likely for Mona to have hidden camera's in the house, in order to frame you." He directed the last bit at Alison herself, giving her an apologetic smile. "I think she's right."

"I do, too." Mrs Hastings murmured, Emily nodded her agreement.

"But now," Toby continued, "Tanner knows that I've been seeing her and I'm guessing she's put two and two together and figured it out. She can't get me in trouble because she knows I know that she's dirty. So she's trying to shut Brittany up by scaring her and make sure she won't give me anything else."

"Will Brittany cave, Ali?" Emily asked, concern lacing her voice.

Alison thought for a minute, "Possibly, but not without a fight. Brittany's very loyal, that's why she's in solitary in the first place, but if Tanner is able to scare her enough, she may crack."

"So we have to get her out as soon as possible." Mrs Hastings concluded, the other three nodded in agreement.

"Do you have enough to go on Mrs Hastings?" Alison asked quickly, though she was sure there was.

"Yes. Brittany is still a minor and she is being questioned by a police officer without a guardian or lawyer present. The situation itself was not enough to earn her time in isolation, and it shows clear signs of abuse of power from the guards. We should be able to get her out on that."

"Let's hope Tanner hasn't already broken her." Emily muttered darkly.

-x-

Brittany was shoved roughly onto the chair in the interview room the next morning, the guard jerking her arms forward and locking her handcuffs to the table and feet to the chair. She kept her expression carefully blank, she had gotten herself in enough trouble overnight.

"You know, it doesn't matter how tight you make my handcuffs, or how hard you push me around. You're still just a common prison guard, which ranks you slightly lower than a garbage man in society's hierarchy." She received a glare from the guard her comment had been directed at, she completely ignored it, she didn't care.

She tried to rotate her wrists but found herself unable to due to the cuffs being too tight around her wrists again. The guards in solitary were not in anyway hospitable, in fact, they were far worse than the guards she normally dealt with.

She was now sporting a black eye as well, apparently telling a guard that he needed an ego check and also a mirror in order to remind himself that he was not a god, like he clearly thought he was, was not a good way to survive in solitary. Brittany didn't care anymore, she didn't care about herself at all now, they could do whatever they wanted to her, she was not going to be their punching bag anymore.

Some would say she had been pushed beyond all decency, others would say she was rebelling, but she wasn't. She felt angry. She was not about to be pushed around so that some scum-sucking, low life could keep her job while an innocent teenager, who had committed no crime and also just happened to be Brittany's friend, rotted in jail. It would be over her dead body.

Tanner could do whatever she wanted to her, she refused to submit to someone like that. She was stronger than that.

She tried her best to ignore the fact that everything seemed underwater and the pounding in her head from the lights in her cell. Would it kill them to switch the damn things off so she could sleep?

The heavy metal door opened and Tanner strode in, taking her usual seat across from Brittany and placing her bag on the table.

She knew what she was about to do what upset the Lieutenant, but she didn't care. There was nothing Tanner could do to her, without getting herself into trouble as well.

"How did you sleep?" Tanner sneered gleefully, knowing perfectly well that Brittany hadn't slept a wink, and was enjoying it considerably. Her face fell a bit when Brittany didn't respond, and didn't even acknowledge that she had heard Tanner at all. The youngster was just gazing at Tanner with a knowing smirk, staying dead silent. Tanner, seeming unsatisfied, decides to try again. "I don't think 90 year olds have bags like that." Again, nothing. Brittany's smirk widened a little and she tilted her head to the side ever so slightly.

Tanner gave her a scowl before pulling a folder out of her bag and flicking through the pages. "So, it would appear that Detective Wilden was misinformed in regards to the planting of the murder weapon you used, it would seem the weapon in question had been on the bedside table for days beforehand, your stepfather seemingly liked having a weapon nearby in case of burglaries or something similar." She glanced up at Brittany, to find her playing with her hands, not paying any attention to her at all, which angered her. "I'd be willing to bring this new information forward, providing we come to an…understanding."

No response. Brittany didn't even look up at her, she was massaging a bruised knuckle on her left hand, completely ignoring Tanner.

"Miss Lawson." Tanner snarled, rising to her feet and placing both palms on the table, leaning forward. "Are you aware that I am speaking to you?"

Brittany, who had started drawing patterns on the table with her finger, finally brought her head up to look at the fuming cop. "I am, Lieutenant. My hearing is fine."

"So why aren't you answering me?!"

"Because I don't have to."

Anger flashed over Tanner's face for a brief second before she regained her composure. "And why is that?" she asked, false sweetness dripping off every word.

Brittany gave her a small smirk, "Lieutenant, do you see anybody else in the room with us?"

Tanner cocked her head to one side, confused. "I'm sorry?"

"There's nobody in here with us, there is no lawyer or guardian for me. I'm 17, Lieutenant. I don't have to answer any of your questions or talk to you at all." Brittany then went back to drawing on the table with a finger.

Tanner was boiling now, anyone could swear she had steam coming out of her ears. "You've been talking to someone. I specifically ordered that nobody but myself and certain officers from Rosewood PD were to have access to you. Who have you spoken with?"

Brittany gave her a wide smile now, all teeth, like she was laughing in the officer's face, which she was. "I don't have to answer that either." She'd be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying this. "Oh, and you don't have the authority to authorize who is allowed to visit me, or have telephone calls with me. So, you no longer control that either. My new lawyer has made sure of that."

Tanner snapped, turning around and pushing the chair over, resulting in a loud thud sounding around the echoing room.

"Miss Lawson," Tanner snarled, all the fake sweetness from before gone. "I'll make this simple for you. If you don't agree to my terms, I will charge you with accessory to the murder of Darren Wilden, and given what he did during your case, revenge seems like the perfect motive and given that you were in here at the time, it would be easy to prove that you had CeCe Drake do it for you."

Brittany's smile didn't falter one bit. "You're either on drugs or just plain delusional. You'd be a fool to do that, Lieutenant. How would you prove that I've ever spoken to CeCe Drake? I can tell you right now, her name won't be in my visitor's log. You know that I know that you are withholding evidence in the Vanderwaal murder case that would acquit Alison DiLaurentis. Do you really want me to tell the jury that? Granted, I can't prove it but if I said it, I'm sure it would be enough for your superiors to instigate an inquiry. I also have a solid alibi; I'm in prison, surrounded by cameras and the phone calls are recorded. They'll be able to tell you that I've never spoken to CeCe Drake."

Tanner looked like she had just been slapped in the face by a toddler.

"So the answer is no, I'm going to do the right thing and you won't be able to charge me with anything if you're sitting in the cell next door will you?"

With that, Brittany rattled her shackles and motioned to the guard on the other side of the glass that she was done here. He came in and released her from the table and began to lead her away. Just before she exited the room though, she turned back to the furious detective.

"You like ultimatums right, Lieutenant? How about this one; you turn yourself in about the evidence you're withholding, or I tell them _everything._" She may not be mentally stable, she may have been hallucinating and showing signs of mental issues, she may have been slowly breaking because of what Tanner's officers had done to her, but the knowing stare she gave the officer was enough for Tanner to know that Brittany was dead serious, and knew more than she was pretending to.

She then turned around and left. Brittany, two. Tanner, Zero.

-x-

Several hours later, she tossed and turned on the stainless steel slab with a pillow that somehow was able to be called a 'bed'. It was driving her insane. She hadn't slept since she had been brought here, mostly due to the fact that the cell lights in solitary were never turned off, but also because of the incredible discomfort that came from sleeping on a block of metal.

She hoped, with every cell in her body, that Alison had managed to stay out of trouble while she had been here. She would hate if her sacrifice had been for nothing. Not that she considered herself a hero or anything, but she knew exactly what would happen if she struck Alexis and she had done it anyway. She knew she would end up in here, and she knew that the unfriendly guards who watched these cells, would feast on the fresh meat like a pack of hungry hyenas.

It was worth it though, she concluded. Alison hadn't been in here for very long, she was still full of hope and hadn't had all the life sucked out of her. Being in here would have destroyed any last ray of positivity her friend had left, and she wasn't about to let that happen. She would rather serve a life sentence in solitary than have Alison become like her, broken.

She had no regrets for what she'd done, Alexis deserved it and worse for everything she'd done to the other inmates. Brittany had watched for months as Alexis took advantage of so many new prisoners, who were too terrified and intimidated to do anything about it. She'd watched those prisoners become damaged, broken and in some cases, psychotic, as a result. She'd been through it herself; she closed her eyes as she remembered her first run-in with Alexis.

_She had just left a meeting with her attorney and the DA, in which the bastard had told her that he would be fighting for remand and denying her bail, and was headed for the dining hall. She had only been in jail for a month at this point and was, so far, doing a good job of keeping her head down and staying invisible. She collected her food, as usual, and kept her head down and her gaze fixed on the ground to avoid the glares she was being given from the inmates standing in line and sitting on the benches. _

_This was new, she thought. It seemed like everybody was staring at her, she couldn't figure out why. Did she have something peculiar about her? Had somebody died her hair blue in the middle of the night? _

_She hustled over to a table by the barred window, sitting with her back to everybody as she wolfed down her meal as quickly as possible. She had always had an instinct for survival, and in that moment, her instinct was telling her that she was in danger and to get out of there. _

_She would have left without eating, but she was wearing thin already. She would have let herself starve to death, except she thought of her brother. Ben needed her, he was already having a hard life, being deaf and not having a mother to guide him anymore. She ate the horrid prison food for Ben, she didn't give up for Ben, she kept fighting for Ben. _

_She had almost finished her meal, when she felt the presence of somebody behind her, pressed up against her back, right in her personal space. She froze, her body going rigid as the person behind her pushed themselves tighter into her back. She could feel her chest tightening and her breathing quickening as she began to panic, a tear rolling down her cheek. _

_She felt the pressure behind her disappear, but a blur of orange moving to sit beside her and a large, rough hand coming down to rest on her upper thigh, far too close. _

_"I've never seen you before sugar, are you new here?" The intruder said, jeering. Her hand sliding up to cover a part of Brittany's body she kept private. _

_She didn't move, she didn't even look at the woman who was invading her personal space. She just squeezed her eyes shut tighter and prayed that this would be over soon. _

She brought a hand up to wipe a tear away. What had started in that dining hall and ended up being three hours of hell, she had never felt that powerless in her entire life. It hadn't been the last time it had happened to her, Alexis was particularly good at getting to them in the showers.

She was pulled from her train of thought by the sound of the cell door unlocking and opening, a Rosewood PD officer walking in, carrying the toolbox she had seen a lot of over the last few days. She closed her eyes and balled her shaking hands into fists in an attempt to calm down the panic that had swelled inside her.

"Your lawyer has just negotiated your return to normal conditions, though Lieutenant Tanner feels that one more treatment will do you some good." He said with an evil smirk as he locked the door and advanced towards Brittany.

Again, she closed her eyes and prayed it would be over soon.

-x-

It was just past midnight when Alison was woken by the sound of chains rattling together, drawing closer towards her cell. Maybe a new inmate was being brought in, maybe someone was in trouble and was being taken to isolation, or maybe it was-?

She quickly turned to see a guard unlocking her cell before turning around and removing the shackles from the inmate standing behind him. He then shoved her into the cell roughly, causing her to fall on her front. Alison recognized her immediately.

"Britt!" She exclaimed as she jumped out of bed and rushed to her friend's side, gently rolling her onto her back and sucking in a harsh breath at the sight before her. Brittany's face had several new bruises and a bleeding nose. Also, the laceration on the side of her face looked like it had been intentionally opened up again.

Despite all this, Brittany gave Alison a small smile upon seeing her, happy to see that Alison was unharmed. It made everything she had been through these last three days worthwhile.

"Hey." She responded quietly. Alison brushed her friend's hair away from her face before gently gripping her arms and helping her stand.

"You're an idiot. You know that?" Alison told her friend sternly even as she hugged her tightly, taking comfort in the knowledge that Brittany was safely by her side again.

Brittany returned the gesture just as tightly, tears falling from her eyes, she was just so happy to be out of that awful hole.

"Come on, you look like you could use some rest." Alison whispered, pulling away after several minutes of embracing. She took Brittany's hand and led her to the bed, urging her friend to lay down. Brittany did so, and gently tugged on Alison's hand to bring the blonde down to lay next to her, immediately snuggling into her side once Alison had gotten comfortable.

The rain continued to bat the barred windows and the occasional rumbling of distant thunder made it difficult to sleep, even though Brittany hadn't slept for the last three days due to the lights in solitary never being turned off.

A flash of lightning filled the otherwise dark cell in light, causing Brittany to jump up, her breathing rapid and uneven as she pointed to the corner of the room in a panic.

"Britt? What is it?" Alison asked confused as she followed Brittany's hand to see where she was pointing, only to find her pointing at an empty corner.

"Stop! Stop! Don't let him near me!" Brittany wailed as she buried her face in the crook of Alison's neck and gripped onto the blonde's shirt so tightly, her knuckles were turning white.

"There's nothing there Britt." Alison whispered soothingly, stroking her friends hair gently, coaxing her back into lying down.

_'What the hell have they done to her_?' She thought.

-x-

Not an hour later, Alison woke due to the cool air breezing through their cell, their thin, grey blankets doing very little to keep them warm, and noticed that Brittany was no longer next to her. She sat up, on high alert and looked around, relaxing again when she saw Brittany sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of the barred window, gazing out.

She sighed and threw the blanket off and walked over to Brittany and sat down next to her, wrapping her arm around her friend, sighing contently when Brittany rested her head on Alison's shoulder.

"I was so scared for you." Alison admitted, bringing her friend closer to her.

"I missed you."

Alison smiled softly, "I missed you, too."

"Has Emily come to see you?"

"Yeah," She felt her heart beat quicken at the mention of the brunette. "She helped me get you out."

"She really loves you, I can feel it." Brittany said quietly.

Alison nodded to herself slowly. "It's complicated, Britt."

"But maybe it doesn't have to be…"

Alison thought about thus for a second. She had to admit, if it was easy for her to admit her feelings for Emily, maybe none of this would have happened. She decided to visit it later and decided to ask Brittany the question that had been bugging her since her friend had been brought back.

"Britt? What did Tanner want from you?"

She felt Brittany stiffen beside her, "She wanted me to keep quiet about some things I know that she doesn't want being made public."

"Like what?"

"It's better at this point in time if you don't know, Ali." Brittany responded quickly.

"But-"

"Ali, please," Brittany adjusted her position so she could wrap both her arms around Alison's torso and rest her head on the blonde's chest. "Please, just trust me."

"You're asking me to trust you, but you won't tell me what's going on?" There was no anger in Alison's voice, only concern.

"I'm doing this for you. It's not safe for you to know just yet."

"Why did you do it Britt? Attack Alexis?"

"I did it for you and I would do it again, you will not have to experience that place. Please, Ali, just let it go."

Hearing the pleading tone in Brittany's voice, Alison decided to drop the topic, for now. She opened her mouth to ask why she hadn't told her she had been working with Toby, but something on the youngsters' arm caught her attention.

"Britt, how did you get this?" She asked fearfully while running her hand over the reddened, scared and cracked area.

"Oh… just the guard's who took me to solitary had a rough grip."

"Does it hurt?"

Brittany just nodded.

Alison pulled her arm that was wrapped around her friend back and used it to lift the damaged arm to her lips, pressing a gentle kiss to the affected area. There was nothing romantic about it, this was simply Alison trying to kiss it better. Brittany smiled at the sweet gesture.

She was glad when Alison didn't question it any further and just tightened her hold on her. She didn't want the blonde knowing that it was from electric shock.

"We're going to be okay, Britt." Alison muttered as they cuddled on the floor of their cell. "I promise."

-x-

"You've really gotten better at fighting your fears, haven't you?" Alison said proudly as they made their way to the shower room the next morning.

"Like I said, you need someone to watch your back." Brittany replied with a smile. Her hallucinations were getting worse and more frequent for some reason but she tried her best to conceal them from Alison. It was effecting her sleep and everything else she did, she hoped they would pass in time.

They had barely set foot in the shower room when a loud, familiar voice rang out through the stalls. "Well, if it isn't my two favourite bimbo's?"

Alison spun around so her and Brittany were standing back to back, fists raised. Brittany's hand went casually to her pocket, gripping the metal fork she had managed to swipe from the dining hall. She didn't know if it would be any use, but she figured it was better to have something rather than nothing.

Alexis walked into view, flanked by at least ten other inmates. Alison and Brittany were outnumbered five to one. They automatically reached for the other's hand, giving it a hard squeeze, a silent promise to not leave the other behind.

"How was your stay in The Hole, hermit?" Alexis sneered.

"Fine, thankyou," Brittany responded confidently. "I hope your PTSD recovery is coming along well. Post Tray Stress Disorder."

Alison chuckled.

Alexis' face darkened at Brittany's comment. "Who do you think you are?!"

"I know who I am, I'm the one who gave you that black eye. Also, I'm not your doormat anymore, if you hurt her," She motioned to Alison. "I'm coming for you."

Alexis snarled, then gave the youngster a sick smile. "You weren't so smart when I was on top of you and you were screaming out in pain, were you? You pathetic little-"

Alison snapped.

She lunged forward, tackling Alexis to the ground and wrapping her hands around the larger woman's neck. Brittany, meanwhile, had pounced on one of Alexis' cronies and was throwing punch after punch into her face, a thin chain that she had taken from a guard's belt while in solitary, wrapped around her knuckles to deliver more damage. Another woman grabbed her shoulders roughly but before she was able to hurt Brittany, another woman had shoved her off the youngster and was now dragging her around by the hair. Brittany recognised her as Stephanie from down the hall, in for six counts of robbery.

Stephanie and Brittany made brief eye-contact, giving each other a small nod, before returning to dealing with their rival.

The woman Brittany had been attacking had now lost consciousness. Brittany clambered off her and turned to see how Alison was doing.

Alison was still strangling Alexis, but when Brittany looked past the blonde, she could see some more of Alexis' followers advancing towards her friend, and looking over her own shoulder, she could see some making their way towards her too.

She pulled the fork from her pocket, making sure the chain was still securely wrapped around her fist. "Ali!" She called. The blonde looked up and Brittany tossed the fork to her, which Alison caught in one hand. This however, gave Alexis the chance to throw Alison off her and for two of her followers to lift Alison up and hold her arms behind her back in front of Alexis. Not far away, the same had been done to Brittany.

"I've been looking forward to this." Alexis smiled gleefully.

Just as she was about to deliver a huge blow to Alison, Stephanie and two other women collided forcefully with the minions that were holding the two friends, causing them all to fall to the ground in a heap. Alison took advantage of the commotion and leaped up and drove the fork into Alexis' shoulder from behind, narrowly missing the beginning of her neck. Brittany had managed to climb to her feet and was offering her hand to their three saviours to help them up, but wheeled around at the sound of Alexis screaming in pain.

The scream was enough to alert the guards to what was happening, and the sound of thundering footsteps was enough to send all the inmates who had been looking on scampering. Brittany grabbed Alison's hand and they, along with Stephanie and the other two women who had come to their aid, took off down the corridor. They found refuge in the laundry room and decided to wait it out there until the heat died down.

"Alison!" Brittany hissed, "When I gave you that fork, I wasn't expecting you to nearly stab her in the jugular with it!"

"Did you have any better ideas, Lawson?" Alison shot back.

"S'far as I'm concerned, Alexis had it comin' for a long time." Stephanie said, giving Alison a thump on the back. "Stephanie Martinez, by the way." She added, holding a hand out to Alison.

"Alison DiLaurentis." Alison responded, shaking the older woman's hand firmly.

"Martha McLachlan." One of the other women said, holding her hand out as well. Looking at her now, Alison realised she had seen her before.

"The one who get sent to solitary for beating the crap out of Alexis right?" Alison asked as she shook too.

Martha nodded, smiling with pride.

"Caroline Smith." The last woman introduced herself as well.

"And we all know who you are, kid." Martha smiled at Brittany, "You're the one that clobbered her with a tray."

"Guilty as charged." Brittany responded, giving the woman a genuine smile.

The five proceeded to share stories, tell jokes and agree to look out for each other as they hid out in the laundry room, waiting for the cell block to settle down.

-x-

The warden groaned and lowered his head onto his hands. "This is going to cause a nightmare of paperwork."

"Sir," A guard said cautiously, "Regardless of the injury Alexis Hamilton sustained, we still need to discover who is responsible for this."

Warden looked up at the two guards standing on the other side of his desk. "and how do you propose we do that?" he sneered.

The two guards looked at each other before the shorter one spoke up again. "Well, we actually have a theory, Sir."

The warden raised his eyebrows, "and that is?"

"We believe Brittany Lawson was the instigator, Sir. A witness said they saw her holding the object in question at the start of the fight. Though nobody saw who actually stabbed Hamilton."

At this, the warden burst out laughing. For several minutes, the two guards shared baffled glances before the warden finally regained his composure.

"I'm sorry, but are you seriously suggesting that Brittany Lawson is behind this? _Brittany Lawson_?! She's harmless, there's no way she is capable of this."

"It's been confirmed that she is responsible for the injuries sustained by the inmate who needed stitches on their eyebrow, Sir. Though that has been ruled as being justifiable."

The warden sighed heavily, "Alright, conduct an investigation, but do not punish Lawson until I have confirmed that she is behind it."

-x-

After returning to their cell, Brittany had decided to get some rest. She told a concerned Alison that she was simply tired after the day but in truth, she figured that the more she slept, the less her hallucinations would bug her. Alison had tucked her in after she had collapsed on top of the covers. She was now sitting next to the sleeping Brittany, with her friend's sketchbook sitting on her lap, having found it under Brittany's pillow when she was tucking her in.

She opened it, flipping through the pages that she had already seen until she came to a new portrait of a man. He had sandy coloured hair, a hard jaw and a mole on his face. He had a cold expression and from the looks of the setting, he was sitting in the witness chair in a courtroom. She recognised him immediately.

_Brittany knew Wilden?! He's the one that rigged her trial? He's the one who she overheard discussing the roof and suicide with? Wait a minute, roof and suicide?! Could that be-_

"DiLaurentis!" A guard barked harshly, pulling her from her thoughts. "Visitor."

Alison rolled her eyes, knowing that Emily would still be at school so that ruled her out, but got up anyway and walked to the bars of the cell, leaving Brittany fast asleep while she went to see who had decided to pay her a visit.

-x-

Alison said nothing, but kept a dirty glare on her face as she was locked to the table and chair in the visiting room. When she was secure, she finally spoke. "Shouldn't you be in California right now?"

"I just wanted to see you locked up, it gives me a sense of satisfaction. Karma can be a real bitch can't it?" Paige McCullers responded with a smug grin.

Alison rolled her eyes, "Well, if that's all you wanted to say, you can get out now."

Paige laughed, "Oh no, I have something else to say."

Alison said nothing, she figured the sooner Paige said what she wanted to, the sooner she'd leave. Alison couldn't wait for that.

"You always took pride in knowing that you always won at everything you did." Paige jeered, "But here you are, in a cage, while I've got the girl, freedom, and a future. So I guess I win."

"You don't have Emily, Paige. She knows I didn't kill Mona and she's helping to get me out. She deserves so much better than you and we both know it." Alison snarled, kind of grateful she was shackled right now or she might just wrap her fingers around Paige's throat.

"Maybe, but if I can't have her, you most certainly can't, Alison. So I still win."

Alison's face had turned a crimson red by this point. "This isn't over, Pigskin."

Paige laughed again. "Oh, Alison. Don't you see? It's already over."

With that, Paige got up and left the room, leaving a fuming Alison waiting for a guard to show up and release her from this goddamn table.

-x-

"Are you two out of your damn minds?!" Emily said loudly.

"She would of cracked my skull in if I hadn't of, Em." Alison defended her actions several hours later, she had opted not to tell the brunette about her encounter with Paige, figuring that Emily was under enough stress already. Brittany disagreed with this, but ultimately understood that it wasn't her place to get involved.

"She would've. She's vicious." Brittany backed up Alison.

"So the solution was to stab her in the neck?"

"I told you, Em," Alison scolded gently, "I wasn't aiming for it."

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Emily raised her voice in concern for the two girls.

"Better me than her." Brittany responded simply.

"Don't say that Britt." Alison turned to her friend. Brittany just shrugged.

"Brittany," Emily also turned her attention to the youngster. "What did Tanner do to you? "Did she hurt you to try and get you to do what she wanted?"

Brittany cracked her neck to one side. "I don't want to talk about that, please don't make me."

At that moment, a guard made their way over to the table. "Lawson, warden wants to see you." He said while releasing Brittany from the table and forcing her to stand.

"I'll catch you later." She said to the two girls before being led away, leaving Alison and Emily to talk alone.

Emily immediately turned to Alison. "What the hell happened?! She isn't the same anymore!" She whisper-yelled.

"This isn't normal, they've done something to her!" Alison snarled, feeling anger boiling to the surface.

"What's not normal?"

"She's been having these weird episodes where she thinks there's someone in the cell with us and she freaks out. It happens at night. And whatever that… thing is on her arm, it's obviously not from a guard's hard grip like she said it was." Alison explained.

"Toby said it's possible that Tanner was having people torture her to try and get her to stay quiet. I think it's more than that but." Emily murmured sadly.

"Torture?! That's just evil."

"I know." Emily responded. "Try and get her to talk about it, until then there isn't much we can do."

Alison nodded, "Okay I will." It was only then that she noticed Emily was crying. "Hey, hey, what's the matter?" she asked softly, wishing so badly that she could reach out and touch Emily.

"Talia and I broke up." Emily admitted quietly. "It was fun and all, but she's not the one."

Alison was confused, "What are you trying to say, Em?"

Emily looked up, brown eyes meeting blue. "It's always been you. You're the one, Ali. Please say I'm your one too." She practically begged the blonde.

Alison felt her heart leap at those words, the words she'd always wanted to hear. "You've been my one since that day in the library, Em. I'm sorry it took me until now to realise it."

Just as she said that, a guard yelled over that Emily's visiting hour was up. The brunette got to her feet, and turned to leave, but then suddenly spun back around, grabbed Alison's face in both her hands and crashed their lips together in a quick, but sweet kiss.

"I'm so sorry, Ali. For everything." She whispered through tears.

Alison smiled softly, "Will you wait for me, Em?"

Emily smiled, bringing the blonde's lips to hers again in a softer, but still needy kiss. "Always." She responded, "I love you."

Alison felt her heart sigh at those three little words. "I love you too."

-x-

**Well, there we have it. The fearsome five has been born! Emison is on! And Brittany is turning into a real badass. Where do you think this story is going? Do you like where it's headed? Leave me reviews with your ideas and theories PLEEEASE. Also give me some feedback, let me know how you're liking this story. I love reading your comments! My heart is working fine for now so that's a good sign and I'll be able to keep writing so YAAAY! **

**Please leave me the usual review and I love y'all very much xoxo**

**Next time on Jailbirds:**

**Chapter 8: With tensions in the cell block increasing, and Brittany number one on everyone's hit list, Alison must take drastic measures to protect her friend. Emily is concerned about Brittany's mental state after her time in solitary and Alison employs the help of Mike to try and protect the girls from -A's scheming and getting them both out of prison before it's too late.**

**Script Teaser:**

**Warden: **

"You're an honourable person, Miss Lawson, you proved that at your trial. So I'm going to ask you face to face, are you the one who hurt Alexis Hamilton?"

**Alison & Brittany:**

"I'm not going to let you do this!"

"You can't stop me."

**Martha & Brittany:**

"Ah, well that explains it. Which one do you want?"

"I'll take the stupid one, who decided to threaten us rather than attack us when our backs were turned."

**Emily: **

"She cannot be allowed to get away with this."


	13. I forgot to add this!

**A/N: I hope everyone is enjoying this story! PLEASE REVIEW. I thought I'd give you some little bits and pieces which I forgot to add at the end on the end of the chapter I just posted. Love y'all. **

**Chapter 11: 'The Devil Within' **

**Brittany is back, but seems to be even more unstable than she was before her injury. Alison and Emily look to professionals and their friends for an explanation into Brittany's uncharacteristic behaviour. While Spencer and Emily dive into research to try and find something matching Brittany's symptoms, Alison must try and keep Brittany out of trouble. Will she be able to figure out whats happening to Brittany before her friend does something rash? and how will she react when she has to protect Brittany not just from other inmates, but from herself?**

**Chapter 12: 'Game of Thrones' **

**War had broken out in the cell bock and Alison, Brittany and their allies are right in the middle of it. Alison draws closer to discovering the reason behind Brittany's behaviour and Emily's kind nature helps to soothe Brittany's rage while they all search for a way to help her. With Alison's trial growing closer, Brittany and Toby are becoming more frantic to put the pieces together and after a Brittany seemingly loses control, and her mind, and attacks a guard, Alison puts it upon herself to fix her friend. **

**Chapter 8 Sneak Peek:**

Brittany is led into the warden's office roughly with a guard gripping her upper arm tightly, jolting to a halt just inside the door.

"Sir? Brittany Lawson to see you." The guard said respectfully, the warden turned from where he had been looking out the window and took in Brittany's appearance and her beaten up body. He then motions to the cuffs fastened to her wrists and ankles.

"Those won't be necessary."

The guard nodded and reluctantly moved to release Brittany from the bindings before exiting the room. The warden motioned for Brittany to take a seat and she did so.

"Would you like a drink? Water? Soda?" He asked casually, even though they both knew why she was here.

"Soda's fine, thank you." She responded just as casually. The warden poured her a glass and placed it in front of her before walking around the desk to take a seat.

"Brittany," He began, placing both his hands on the desk and knitting them together. "You and I have had conversations like this in the past. I tried to get you to admit to what was happening to you but you refused to come forward. You were just a scared, little girl." His expression showed genuine sympathy for the girl in front of her. "I don't see that scared, little girl sitting in front of me."

"It's amazing what a little roughhousing does to you doesn't it?" She replied smoothly.

"You'll be eighteen tomorrow, Brittany. Alexis Hamilton's injuries are quite serious." He didn't seem all that upset over the injuries, maybe he thought Alexis was scum too. "You're an honourable person, Miss Lawson." She thought she saw a hint of respect in his eyes. "You proved that at your trial. So I'm going to ask you this face to face. Are you the one who hurt Alexis Hamilton?"

**What do you think Brittany's going to say? Will she confess to save Alison? Leave me your thoughts in a review! **

**Script Teasers: **

**Alison:**

"If Brittany admits to this, she will get an extended sentence! An extra five to ten years!"

**Brittany: **

"At least it wasn't a meat cleaver, which was my original idea."

**Emily: **

"Please be careful, I don't want to lose either of you."

**Doctor:**

"Miss Fields, it would seem the bullet missed all vital organs, but the patient is bleeding out very quickly. It will be a miracle if we can save her."

**Emily: **

"That is police brutality if ever I saw it."


	14. Read!

**Chapter 8 Sneak Peek: **

"Ahhhh!"

Brittany's scream brought tears to her eyes, watching her friend writhing in pain on the table as the nurse desperately tried to tend to the blistering, sizzling, red area on the youngster's arm.

"Miss DiLaurentis, I need you to hold her down. I can't treat the injury with her thrashing around like this."

Alison nods, moving to Brittany's side and resting one hand on each of her shoulders, pinning her to the table. She bends down to press her forehead to her friend's as Brittany's lifts her uninjured arm to wrap a hand around Alison's wrist, eyes screwed shut in pain.

"Britt," She said soothingly, "Britt, look at me." Her friend scrunched her eyes tighter closed and ensnared her bottom lip between her teeth in an attempt to hold back another scream. "Look. At. Me." She finally does, Alison recognising the look of pure pain and fear in her eyes. "It's okay. I'm here, I won't let them hurt you. We're going to help you."

Hearing this, the two share a glance, seemingly having a silent conversation, before Brittany nods and settles down, not releasing Alison's wrist.

"Impressive, I've never seen anybody able to calm her down, or even let them touch her." The nurse comments, eyes wide in surprise.

Alison smiled softly, "She's my friend, my sister. We trust each other."

Brittany smiled softly before giving Alison's wrist a gentle squeeze and lifting her head slightly to press a kiss to Alison's forehead.

**Script Teaser:**

**Brittany:**

"Next time, you're the bait. Have you seen the size of them?!"

**Alison & Brittany:**

"It's going down, I'm yelling-"

"SHUT UP."

**Martha & Brittany: **

"So all you gotta do is get their attention and lead them away from the door."

"You make it sound as simple as ordering pizza."

**Brittany & Alison:**

"And now Ladies and Gentlemen, not that there are any gentlemen, it's time for the Chester Weather Forecast. All I can say is that it's raining pigs and bitches because who the hell can tell what the weather's like from inside this dump?!

"Idiot."

**Tanner & Emily:**

"My business with Miss Lawson doesn't concern you."

"Maybe not, but it will when her lawyer brings up what you've been doing to her in court."

**Spoilers/Notes:**

**- It's going to be a really hard chapter for Brittany.**

**- There are numerous Emison scenes. **

**- The Alliance gets some new members. **

**- Alexis and Brittany have a scene. **

**Chapter 9 Sneak Peek:**

"You have to let me see her!" Alison roars, Veronica standing several feet behind her, shocked at the blonde's outburst.

"Where do you think you are? Holiday camp?" The guard sneers, "This is a prison, go back to your cell before I lock you in the hole."

"Oh, that won't be happening." Veronica said, stepping forward to stand beside Alison.

The guard studied her for several moments, "And who are you to say that?"

"Brittany Lawson's Attorney."

If the situation wasn't so serious, Alison would have laughed at how quickly the guard's face fell.

"I am currently working on a case in regards to my client's mistreatment at the hands of yourself and other prison guards, so unless you want to add more fuel to that fire, I suggest you let Alison see her."

The guard stepped aside so quickly, you would think there was a snake under his feet.

**Script Teasers:**

**Alison:**

"You're not allowed to leave me, do you hear me? I couldn't bear it."

**Brittany: **

"It'll be alright, one way or the other. I'm not afraid."

**Emily:**

"Why has nothing happened to the person who did this?! What the hell is wrong with the world?!"

**Warden:**

"I'll see to it personally that justice prevails."

**Spoilers/Notes: **

**- For those who have seen/read The Hunger Games, Tanner is trying to hijack Brittany, but in a realistic way.**

**- Someone tries to kill Brittany while she's in ICU, but who? and why? **

**- Alison starts a fight. Again. **

**- Chester gets a new inmate. Who could it be?**

**- Emison have some scenes. **

**A/N: Got a theory? Got some answers to these questions? Leave a review and let me know! Also let me know if you like where this story is heading and if there's something you'd like me to add. **


	15. My Last Gift MAJOR SPOILERS

**So I'm booked in for surgery, so I won't be able to update until that's over. I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing during that time and I've been just DYING to get these out there. I warn you now, there are MAJOR SPOILERS. Brittany's got some funny lines doesn't she? Her character development will be in full swing once I'm back! Oh and there's also some language from... you guessed it, the one and only Brittany Lawson.**

**Chapter 8 Script Teasers: **

**Alison & Brittany (During a riot): **

"Don't you think that was a little harsh? We're not trying to kill them you know?!"

"You did see who it was, right?"

"Yes, and I still think it was-"

"GET YOUR EYES CHECKED THEN!"

**Alison & Brittany:**

"You do know you're an inmate in prison?"

"No, Alison. I was under the illusion that my name is Marge Simpson and I'm currently at a women's saturday sewing club with a bunch of people with really bad fashion sense!"

**Brittany:**

"Dude! My dog was better mannered than these guards, and he was never toilet trained!"

**Alison & Emily: **

"When I get out of here, you and I will maybe have a real chance at making this work.

"I'd like that. I've been waiting."

**Brittany:**

"Who has a perm these days anyway? It looks like she has earthworms coming out of her head.

**Tanner, Brittany & Alison:**

"I am still a firm believer in the theory that you killed Mona Vanderwaal."

"Oh Jesus."

"Britt..."

"There is no evidence to prove your innocence at this time."

"Okay, you know what? FUCK. YOU!"

"Britt, settle down!"

**(Don't worry, getting brainwashed or not, Brittany's going to go after Tanner hard for this one!)**

**Alison & Brittany:**

"Do you have any kind of filter?"

"What do you think?"

**Chapter 9 Script Teasers:**

**Spencer & Alison:**

"Brittany's got the evidence that Tanner's withholding evidence, and someone's trying to kill her to make sure she doesn't spill."

"I can't let her get hurt Spencer, she's my best friend!"

"She's already been hurt, she's sitting in intensive with a gunshot wound."

"You know what I mean!"

**Toby & Alison:**

"If we can get a hold of what Brittany has, we can arrest Tanner."

"She's in ICU! How are we supposed to get it from her?"

**Brittany:**

"I don't care what they try, I will not die tonight."

**MAJOR SPOILER:**

**SOMEONE DIES, BUT WHO?**

**Chapter 10 Script Teasers:**

**Alison:**

"They're trying to give Brittany an extended sentence of life for something she didn't do!"

**Emily:**

"She's not an idiot, she's obviously got a plan."

**Spencer & Alison:**

"Well, if she dies it won't matter."

"She won't. I won't allow it."

**Officer:**

"You're under arrest."

**Chapter 11 Script Teasers:**

**Alison:**

"You need to get it together! What's wrong with you?"

**Brittany:**

"I have to kill him."

**Emily & Alison:**

"Something's wrong, and I bet that psycho bitch is involved!

"Which one?"

**Alison:**

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

**Chapter 12 Script Teasers: **

**Spencer:**

"The willpower it must take to be able to break free of that, even for just a few seconds."

**Alison:**

"She seems to resist it, and she's herself again for a minute before it takes over again. It looks like she's always in pain too."

**Emily:**

"Okay, this is weird, but it seems that singing to her calms her down and brings her back."

**Martha:**

"How did she get away with this?"

**Brittany:**

"Enough is enough. We have to fight back."

**Chapter Titles:**

**13: Animal I Have Become. (Who do you think this is about? Leave a review!)**

**14: Fight As One.**

**15: I Won't Give Up On Us.**

**16: Betrayed. **

**17: Take My Soul.**

**18: Try Me.**

**19: (Can't share this one, gives too much away!)**

**20: Heroes. **

**This will not be the end of this story! This is all I'm sharing so far and the titles from 20 onward will give too much away! Leave me your theories and any questions you have and I'll answer them when I'm out. Wish me luck! Love you all xoxo **


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